IE British Constitution 
 AND Government 
 
 Frederick Wicks
 
 y*^\ 1/ -'L> 
 
 1 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 The British Constitution 
 
 AND 
 
 Government, 
 
 Sixth Edition.
 
 PRINTED BY 
 
 ODHAMS, LIMITED, FLORAL STREET, 
 
 LONDON, W.C.
 
 ifcJ^>^^^ THE 
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 AND 
 
 GOVERNMENT: 
 
 A DESCRIPTION 
 
 OF THE WAY IN WHICH THE LAWS OF ENGLAND 
 
 ARE MADE AND ADMINISTERED, TOGETHER WITH AN ACCOUNT' 
 
 OF THE FUNCTIONS OF THE CHIEF OFFICERS IN 
 
 EVERY DEPARTMENT OF THE STATE. 
 
 BY FREDERICK WICKS. 
 
 SIXTH EDITION. 
 
 LONDON : 
 SiMPKiN, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., Limited. 
 
 {The Right of Translation and Reproduction is reserved by 
 the Author.)
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 or 
 
 QC 
 QQ 
 
 C3 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I. Introduction ... 
 II. The Crown 
 
 III. The Privy Council ... 
 
 IV. The Cabinet and the Government 
 V. The Responsibility of Ministers 
 
 VI. Parliament 
 
 VII. The Assembling of Parliament 
 VIII. The Speaker and His Office 
 IX. Proceedings in Parliament 
 X. The Balance of Power 
 XI. The Administration of Justice 
 XII. Non-Political Departments 
 
 XIII. Convocation 
 
 XIV. Local Administration 
 
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 THE TYPE FROM WHICH THE l6o PAGES 
 
 OF THIS 
 
 BOOK HAVE BEEN PRINTED WAS PRODUCED 
 
 BY THE 
 
 WICKS ROTARY TYPE CASTING MACHINE, THE 
 
 INVENTION 
 
 OF THE AUTHOR, IN FIVE HOURS, AT THE 
 
 RATE OF 
 
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 THE 
 
 BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 AND 
 
 GOVERNMENT. 
 
 THE ORIGIN 
 OF 
 GOVERN- 
 MENT. 
 
 CHAPTER I.— INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 When we speak of a country's Constitution, we mean 
 the whole body of laws by which its people are governed 
 and the machinery by which its laws are made and 
 administered. Barbarous communities have no constitu- 
 tion or form of Government. Among the uncivilised, 
 each member of the community protects himself and his 
 goods by the strength of his arms, or a Chief of the tribe 
 decides all disputes without anything to guide him but 
 his own will. As civilisation spreads, or the community 
 becomes larger, certain customs grow up among the 
 people for the settlement of differences and the punish- 
 ment of wrongdoers. As a community becomes still 
 more civilised, or grows still larger, these customs 
 become more numerous and more clearly understood ; 
 and, in time, formal laws are made for the guidance of 
 the people in their dealings with one another and for 
 the management of public affairs. If these laws are 
 made by a Chief or King, without the concurrence of monarchy, 
 any Council or Parliament, and are administered in the 
 same way, they are called decrees ; the King or Chief is 
 said to have unlimited power over his subjects ; and 
 the Government of the country is said to be a despotism 
 or an unlimited monarchy. We read in histories, even 
 
 UNLIMITED
 
 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 THE 
 GROWTH 
 OF THE 
 BRITISH 
 CONSTITU- 
 TION. 
 
 of modern times, of countries, of very great size and 
 inhabited by several millions of people, being governed 
 by a Sovereign with unlimited power ; and history 
 shows that during some period almost all countries have 
 been governed in this manner. 
 
 As communities acquire knowledge, and a capacity to 
 take part in the government of the country, the unlimited 
 monarchy gradually gives place to a less despotic rule, 
 and resolves itself sometimes into a republic and 
 sometimes into a limited monarchy — so called because 
 the power of the Sovereign is limited to some extent by 
 the will of the people. It is in cases where the ruler of 
 a country ceases to have unlimited power, and Avhere 
 the people themselves have a distinct part to play in 
 the government of their country that the State is said 
 to have a Constitutional Government. 
 
 Instances have occurred in modern times of com- 
 munities settling a constitution for the government of 
 their country in every detail, and appointing a head of 
 the State under its provisions. The British Constitution 
 differs from these cases in that it has never been defined 
 in precise terms. It has grown out of the customs of the 
 people of the United Kingdom, and its details have been 
 settled and varied from time to time by the amendment 
 of its laws, by new enactments, and by the decisions of 
 the Courts. It has, in fact, grown as a well-forestered 
 tree grows during many years. It is symmetrical 
 without being formal ; and while its trunk is firm and 
 unyielding, its branches sway before the slightest breath 
 of public opinion. A social storm may assail it ; and 
 if some of its members prove unequal to the assault, 
 fresh growths take their places and add to its strength. 
 But although it is not the work of any single man or 
 any set of men, and although it has never been set out 
 in detail to this day, yet its principles are well under- 
 stood by those in authority, and none dare depart from 
 them. It is universally regarded as the most wonderful 
 organisation of its kind, and has served as a model for 
 the construction of the more artificial constitutions of 
 other countries. 
 
 It is the purpose of these pages to make the principle 
 of the British Constitution clear by describing the
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 3 
 
 manner in which they regulate the operations of all the 
 great Officers of State, and by setting out the manner in 
 which the laws are enacted, revised and administered. 
 
 CHAPTER II.— THE CROWN. 
 
 Our laws are made by an agreement on the part of the 
 
 King, the Lords, and the Commons ; that is to say, 
 
 laws are framed in the House of Lords, and the House 
 
 of Commons, and are afterwards consented to by the 
 
 reigning Sovereign. The King, the Lords and the Com- the three 
 
 mons are sometimes erroneously described as the Three estates. 
 
 Estates of the Realm. Properly interpreted, this phrase is 
 
 descriptive of the three classes of the King's subjects, the 
 
 Clergy, the Nobles, and the Commons ; but the Clergy do 
 
 not now occupy a position in the State as distinguished 
 
 from the Nobles and the Commons, so that the phrase, 
 
 in its original sense, has very little significance when 
 
 applied to the condition of the country in the present 
 
 day. 
 
 As the House of Lords and the House of Commons 
 are called into being by the act of the Sovereign, we 
 must first of all understand the reigning monarch's 
 position in relation to the State. Succession to the ^"^ 
 
 Throne of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and sovereign. 
 Ireland is hereditary ; and the Sovereign may be either 
 a man or a woman. When it has happened with us, as 
 on more than one occasion, that the King or Queen 
 dies, leaving no direct heir, the next successor to the 
 Crown is nominated by Parliament, the person to 
 whom the Crown has been offered has always been 
 connected by marriage or descent with a former King of 
 of England. 
 
 In former times, the King of England possessed, 
 besides private property, the right to receive for his own 
 use duties of excise and what are styled in the Hereditary 
 Revenues Act, Casual Revenues, including, among 
 other things, droits, or rights of Admiralty, droits of the 
 Crown, West India duties, and surplus revenues of 
 British Possessions abroad ; but latterly it has been the
 
 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 THE CIVIL 
 LIST. 
 
 custom, at the commencement of every reign, to make 
 an agreement with the new Sovereign, that all these 
 revenues shall be collected by departments of the State, 
 and paid into the National Exchequer or Consolidated 
 Fund ; and that the Sovereign should receive out of the 
 Consolidated Fund a fixed sum yearly to meet the 
 expenses of the Royal Household as distinguished from 
 the expenses of public Government. This sum is called 
 the Civil List, and the Act of Parliament regulating it 
 is entitled the Act of Settlement. At the commencement 
 of the reign of King Edward, the Civil List settled upon 
 His Majesty amounted to £470,000 per year. Of this, 
 £110,000 was to go to their Majesties' Privy, or private 
 Purse ; £125,800 for the salaries of His Majesty's 
 Household and Retired Allowances ; £193,000 for the 
 expenses of His Majesty's Household ; £13,200 for the 
 Royal Bounty, Alms, and Special Services ; £20,000 
 for Works ; and £8,000 for other purposes not specified 
 by the Act, except that His Majesty was empowered by 
 it to grant pensions, amounting altogether to £1,200 per 
 annum, to persons who had distinguished themselves in 
 some way to the advantage of the country without 
 enriching themselves. These pensions usually amount 
 to about £100 each. It should be stated that the Crown 
 rents given up to the State by Queen Victoria under 
 this arrangement amounted to £430,000 in 1889, and 
 the smaller branches of the hereditary revenues amounted 
 to £60,000 a year, showing a balance in favour of the 
 nation. The Act of Parliament regulating these matters 
 and all others connected with annuities to members of 
 the Royal Family is entitled, " The Civil List Act, 
 1901." 
 
 The Sovereign, however, does not sacrifice any of his 
 sovereign's rights of citizenship by this arrangement. He can hold 
 PRIVATE private property by inheritance or purchase in the same 
 manner and to the same extent as any subject, and as 
 a matter of fact, does hold property as a private person. 
 This is as it should be, for while it is only right that 
 the Sovereign should not appropriate taxes and duties 
 which are levied for the benefit of the country at large 
 neither should he forfeit any of the rights which his 
 meanest subjects possess. 
 
 THE 
 
 RIGHTS.
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 
 
 The Sovereign is regarded in this country rather as 
 the head of the State than as a personal ruler, and is 
 generally spoken of by statesmen and politicians as 
 " The Crown." It will be seen that everything 
 connected with the government of the country is done 
 in the name of the Crown. All officers of State, all 
 judges, and all magistrates act in the name of the 
 Crown ; every taxgatherer, every postman, and every 
 telegraph boy is a servant of the Crown. Every 
 CTiinina.1 or quasi criminal act done by one person against 
 another is regarded as an offence against the Crown ; 
 all fines are paid to the Crown, and all guilty persons 
 are punished in the name of the Crown. Beside this the 
 Crown maintains an army and navy to defend the 
 country from invasion, to protect the goods of our 
 merchants when upon the sea in time of war, and to 
 protect our fellow-subjects in distant Colonies. The 
 Crown has all the power of declaring war against any 
 foreign power, without asking the permission of 
 Parliament, but it will be shown presently that although 
 this power is theoretically possessed by the Sovereign 
 alone, it is practically in the hands of the people. 
 
 The process of accession to the Throne is simple. 
 Upon the demise of the Sovereign the Privy Councillors 
 are assembled, and they, together with other gentlemen 
 and persons of quality such as the Lord Mayor of London, 
 meet at a place where the heir to the Throne is near at 
 hand, and recognise him as the Sovereign Lord of the 
 Realm, upon which he makes one or other of the 
 declarations required of him by the statutes regulating 
 the accession ; and those of the assembly who, although 
 having signed the declaration, are not members of the 
 Privy Council, retire and the neAV King holds his first 
 Council, from which proceed all the necessary Royal 
 Proclamations regulating the new order of things 
 consequent upon the demise of a Sovereign. 
 
 The several oaths and declarations taken by the new 
 Sovereign are prescribed by certain statutes originating 
 with the Petition of Rights of the Reign of Charles L, 
 supplemented by the enactment of the Bill of Rights and 
 the Act of Settlement of William and Mary which 
 prescribes that any person professing the Popish religion 
 
 ACCESSION 
 TO THE 
 THRONE. 
 
 THE 
 PETITION 
 
 AND 
 BILL OF 
 RIGHTS.
 
 6 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 or who shall marry a Papist is incapable of inheriting 
 the Crown and the people are absolved from allegiance 
 to any such person. This exclusion is confirmed by the 
 second article of the Act of Union with Scotland, which 
 prescribes that the King shall bind himself to maintain 
 the Protestant religion and the Presbyterian Church 
 Government of Scotland ; and in addition to taking 
 the Coronation oath, every King or Queen is required 
 to make a declaration against the doctrines of the 
 Roman Catholic Church as prescribed by Act of 
 Parliament either on the Throne in the House of 
 Lords in the presence of both Houses on their first 
 meeting, or at the Coronation, whichever shall first 
 happen. 
 
 The ceremony of Coronation is usually delayed ; but 
 the new occupant of the Throne proceeds to the 
 administration of affairs of State immediately upon his 
 accession. 
 THE KING It is a common saying that " The King can do no 
 CAN DO NO wrong." This does not mean that the King can do no 
 WRONG, wrong as a man, but that the King, as head of the 
 State, can do no wrong. Some explain this by saying 
 that, inasmuch as the King acts on the advice of his 
 Councillors, it is they who do the wrong, if any is 
 done, and not the King ; but this is not correct, for 
 the saying was common before the Ministers of the 
 Sovereign were responsible to Parliament. The true 
 meaning is, that the King is not responsible to anyone 
 for any act he may do as a King, because his official 
 acts are the acts of the State. It is evident that the 
 State can do no wrong, because the State is superior to 
 all persons under its dominion, and no tribunal can be 
 found to try it, unless it be an international tribunal 
 fo'Tmed of the representatives of Foreign States for a 
 wTong done by one country against another. Some go 
 further, and say that the King can do no wrong, because 
 there exists no properly constituted body of men by 
 whom his acts can be called in question ; and that if 
 such a body did exist the men composing it would be 
 chief of the State and not the King. But, whatever the 
 origin of the maxim, and whatever may be its true 
 meaning as regards the Kings of England in the past,
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 7 
 
 It is certain that it can be applied to the Sovereign of 
 England in the present day In at least one sense. It has 
 come to pass that the official acts of the Sovereign of 
 the United Kingdom are as nearly as possible the exact 
 expression of the will of the people ; and if a King does 
 only what his people wish him to do, he certainly cannot 
 be said to wrong them, however unwise those acts may 
 be. But we shall see this more clearly when we come 
 to the chapter on " The Cabinet and the Govtrnment," 
 and "The Responsibility of Ministers." 
 
 CHAPTER III.— THE PRIVY COUNCIL. 
 
 In former times, the Sovereign took a far more prominent 
 part in the administration of the la^v, or In what is 
 commonly called " The Executive," than is the case 
 now, and, for his assistance, he gathered about him a 
 number of councillors, who acted as private advisers, 
 and, in time, came to be known as the Privy Council. 
 A Privy Councillor Is nominated by the Sovereign, by 
 whom, also, the appointment may be cancelled, and he 
 is styled the Right Honourable. It is a common error 
 to suppose that all the members of the Government are 
 styled Right Honourable, or that all those who are 
 styled Right Hon., such as the Lord Mayor, are Privy 
 Councillors, or that being a member of the Ministry 
 necessarily carries with it this title of distinction. The 
 Lord Chancellor, however, is so by right of his office. 
 Any natural born subject of the Crown may become a 
 Privy Councillor, and the appointment may last during 
 the life of the Sovereign making the appointment. Sons 
 of the King are born Pri\'y Councillors, and when of 
 age they are presented, but not sworn. 
 
 The oath taken by a Privy Councillor consists of seven the oath 
 articles, as follows : To advise the Sovereign according 
 to the best of his cunning and discretion ; to advise for 
 his Sovereign's honour and good of the public, without 
 partiality through affection, love, need, doubt, or dread ; 
 to keep the Sovereign's counsel secret ; to avoid 
 corruption ; to help and strengthen the execution of 
 
 THE 
 DESIGNA- 
 TION 
 " RIGHT 
 HONOUR- 
 ABLE."
 
 8 
 
 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 what shall be then resolved ; to withstand all persons 
 who w^ould attempt the contrary ; and, in general, to 
 observe, keep, and do all that a good and true 
 Councillor ought to do to his Sovereign Lord. 
 
 As the number of Privy Councillors, however, was 
 unlimited, and their duties were general, they proved to 
 be not very useful as a Council for the transaction of 
 THE public business. Consequently the custom arose for the 
 CABINET. Sovereign to choose from among his Privy Councillors 
 some of the more able to form his Cabinet, and the 
 Cabinet now, to a great extent, serves the purpose for 
 which the Privy Council was designed. It is easy to 
 be conceived too, that out of so large a body as the 
 Privy Council, some of the more able or ambitious 
 would lay their heads together, and concert measures 
 among themselves in private, and having obtained the 
 King's consent to them, would overrule, or at least 
 guide, the decision of the Privy Council at large. 
 
 The commencement of this practice of the King 
 consulting with his favourite Councillors before any 
 measures of State were submitted to the Privy Council 
 can be traced as far back as the reign of Charles I., and 
 it is out of this practice, that what is now regarded as 
 an institution of this country and a most important 
 feature of the Constitution has grown. 
 DUTIES OF The Privy Council still discharges many of the most 
 THE PRIVY important duties of the State. It proclaims the Sovereign 
 COUNCIL, on his accession and is the instrument of all Royal 
 Proclamations. Those of its members who are Judges 
 sit as a committee to consider petitions from persons 
 appealing from decisions in the Indian or Colonial 
 Courts. It has also an administrative authority. In 
 dealing with some subjects it is impossible for the 
 Legislature to prescribe in all cases what shall be done ; 
 it therefore becomes necessary to give a discretionary 
 power to some authority to issue orders in such cases. 
 The authority chosen is the Sovereign ; and the laws 
 referred to provide that His Majesty may by Order in 
 Council, direct certain things to be done, and forbid 
 the doing of certain other things. These Orders in 
 Council are made by the Council of His Majesty's 
 advisers sitting as a Privy Council, and presided over
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 9 
 
 by himself. Theoretically, the Council may be composed 
 of any of the Sovereign's Privy Councillors ; but, 
 practically, it always consists of one or more of the 
 Cabinet. These Orders in Council are passed, not at 
 the Council office, in Whitehall, but at such of the Royal 
 residences as the Sovereign may happen to be occupying 
 at the time. They are afterwards published in the 
 London Gazette, and in such manner as the Act of 
 Parliament may direct, bearing the names of the 
 Councillors present on the occasion and signed by the 
 Clerk to the Council. For instance, when the cattle 
 plague occurred in England, a law was passed 
 empowering Her Majesty, by Order in Council, to 
 make such provisions as may be deemed proper to prevent 
 the importation of diseased cattle from foreign countries. 
 It was found necessary in that case to forbid the landing 
 in England of any cattle coming from certain ports on 
 the Continent, but a little reflection will show that it 
 was impossible to pass a general law upon the subject, 
 because, although to-day cattle might be diseased in 
 Holland, next month they might be sound there, and yet 
 very bad indeed in Roumania. Consequently it was 
 necessary to give a discretionary power to forbid the 
 importation of cattle from this or that port, as occasion 
 required. In all such cases the King in Council is 
 selected as the authority to make the necessary orders ; 
 so that when we hear of Orders in Council about 
 anything, we must understand that those orders are issued 
 by His Majesty in Council under the authority of an Act 
 of Parliament, which prescribes the circumstances under 
 which orders shall be made, and to what extent the 
 discretion shall be exercised.
 
 lO 
 
 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 THE 
 CABINET 
 NOT REGU- 
 LATED BY 
 FIXED 
 RULES. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE CABINET AND THE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 In times long since past the King personally took an 
 active part, not only in making the laws, but in 
 administering them ; now, however, it would be thought 
 unconstitutional for the Sovereign to do anything in the 
 administration of the law except by the advice, and 
 through the medium of his responsible advisers and 
 appointed representatives. Not only are judges and 
 magistrates appointed to judge and order the punish- 
 ment of those convicted of breaking the law, but 
 every department of the State is managed by a 
 representative of the Sovereign, who is called a 
 Minister of the Crown. Certain of these Ministers form 
 the Cabinet, and it is in accordance with their advice 
 or counsel that the Sovereign acts. In their hands, 
 indeed, is vested the whole of the Royal authority. 
 
 The number of persons forming the Cabinet is not 
 fixed, but it generally happens that about fourteen of the 
 principal Ministers compose it. There is no rule requiring 
 that the holder of any particular office should be a 
 member of the Cabinet, or that a member of the 
 Government should hold any office at all, but it has 
 become the custom always to give a seat in the Cabinet 
 to the holders of certain offices. There are several 
 offices, the holders of which are sometimes members of 
 the Cabinet and sometimes not ; and in some cases 
 eminent and aged statesmen have been appointed 
 Cabinet Ministers without any special office, because of 
 their great experience and ability. Nor is there any 
 rule as to the relative numbers of peers and commoners 
 who form the Cabinet, but usually the majority of those 
 composing it are members of the LoAver House of 
 Pailiament. The composition of the Cabinet is, in fact, 
 regulated by no fixed rules. The necessities of the day, 
 and the personal qualities of those who form the 
 Government as a whole, alone guide the Prime Minister 
 in choosing who shall and who shall not form the 
 Cabinet.
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 
 
 The Cabinet, as we have already said, practically 
 takes the place of, and performs the duties which were 
 in former times exclusively discharged by the Privy 
 Council ; but although from long usage it has come to 
 be considered as an essential part of the institutions of 
 the country, yet its existence is not recognised by the 
 law of the land. There is no official notification of 
 those who compose it, nor is there any record of its 
 meeting or of the business it transacts, and no mention 
 will be found of it in any Act of Parliament. Its 
 deliberations are always secret ; and no one is allowed 
 to enter the room where it is held during its deliberations. 
 It is the duty of the Prime Minister after each Cabinet, 
 to inform the Sovereign what has passed, but none of 
 those who compose it may, for any purpose, make public 
 what has occurred in Cabinet without the express 
 sanction of the King. Cabinets are usually held twice a 
 week during the sitting of Parliament, and they are 
 summoned by the Prime Minister in the following 
 way :— 
 
 *' Sir, — You are requested to attend a meeting of 
 
 His Majesty's servants on day, at o'clock, 
 
 at " 
 
 But, beside the members of the Cabinet, there are 
 several others who form the Administration. If we 
 count every member of the Government, we shall find 
 they number more than forty ; and the whole of these 
 agree to act in concert, to remain in office as long as 
 they can conscientiously approve the public acts of each 
 other, and as long as the advice given by the chief 
 members of the Administration to the Sovereign is 
 approved by the country. Immediately their advice is 
 disapproved by the country they all resign their offices, 
 and others are appointed in their stead. How^ it is 
 discovered that their advice is disapproved by the 
 country we shall see presently, in the chapter dealing 
 with the responsibility of Ministers. 
 
 The various officials forming the Government may be 
 classified under three heads. First in importance, are 
 those who have seats in the Cabinet ; next come those 
 members of the Government who are not members of 
 the Cabinet, but who are immediately associated with 
 
 B 
 
 OTHER 
 MEMBERS 
 OF THE 
 GOVERN- 
 MENT.
 
 12 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 the Cabinet Ministers in the administration of public 
 affairs ; and thirdly, we have officials of the Royal 
 Household. 
 
 The chief member of the Government is he upon, 
 whom the Sovereign calls to form an Administration or 
 Government ; and, although it has of late become the 
 custom for him to appropriate to himself the office of 
 the First Lord of the Treasury, there is no fixed rule 
 upon the subject, and he may assume whatever office he 
 thinks best suited to his abilities, or most important for 
 the time being. In 1783 Mr. Pitt, being called upon by 
 his King to form an Administration, appropriated to 
 himself the posts of First Lord of the Treasury and 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer, and his example has been 
 followed by others ; but usually the Prime Minister 
 takes the post of First Lord of the Treasury alone. As 
 Prime Minister, his first duty is to gather around him the 
 most able of his friends and supporters, and distribute 
 among them the high offices of State according to their 
 experience and ability. In doing this care is taken to 
 make such appointments as will be approved by the 
 country. It sometimes happens that he is unable to 
 secure the assistance of the most able statesmen of the 
 day ; perhaps they may differ from one another on 
 important questions ; or some other less weighty reason 
 may exist to prevent them working together. In such 
 a case the difficulty of forming an Administration is 
 greatly increased, and sometimes cannot be overcome. 
 Whenever this is so, the Prime Minister returns to his 
 Sovereign, confesses his failure, and prays to be excused. 
 Another is sent for, who will, perhaps, be successful. 
 Having formed his Administration, the various depart- 
 ments of which will be described presently, the Prime 
 Minister accepts the seals of his office from his Sovereign 
 in person, and proceeds to the discharge of its duties. 
 Being the principal adviser of the Sovereign he has the 
 power of appointing, not only all members of his own 
 Government, but all Archbishops and Bishops, and of 
 nominating persons to fill all superior offices in the gift 
 of the Crown as they become vacant. 
 
 The Prime Minister also presides over the meetings of 
 the Cabinet when Ministers consult in private as to what
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 13 
 
 measures should be laid before Parliament for the better 
 government of the country, and that advice should be 
 given to the Sovereign as regards any important 
 matters which may from time to time arise, whether it 
 be in reference to a matter of dispute between this 
 and another country, or a difficulty connected with our 
 Colonies, or the people of the country generally. Thus 
 it will be seen that the position of Prime Minister of 
 England is one of the very first importance ; it is 
 second only to the position occupied by the Sovereign, 
 yet it is a post which may be attained by any natural 
 born British subject, no matter what his origin. 
 
 We have said that the Prime Minister usually lord high 
 appropriates to himself the office of First Lord of the treasurer. 
 Treasury. The Treasury is the department which has 
 to do with the receipt of all taxes and fines, and the 
 payment of all moneys. So far as the receipt and 
 expenditure of money produced by taxation is concerned 
 it controls every department of the State. Formerly 
 the chief of the department was styled the Lord High 
 Treasurer, but it has been recently the custom to place 
 the office in Commission, that is, to distribute the 
 duties and respons ibilities among several persons, who 
 are styled Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's 
 Treasury. The Chancellor of the Exchequer stands next 
 in importance to the First Lord as a Lord of the 
 Treasury. It is he who actually superintends the control 
 of the public moneys, and when we come to the chapters 
 dealing with the House of Commons we shall see that he 
 has a great deal to do with taxing the people. He has 
 always a seat in the Cabinet, and is assisted by two or 
 more Junior Lords of the Treasury, and two Secretaries, 
 all of whom must have seats in one or other of the 
 Houses of Parliament, and all of whom resign their 
 posts when their chief goes out of office. 
 
 Besides these, there are a number of officials at the permanent 
 Treasury, holding high positions, such as the Permanent officials. 
 Secretary, who do not go out of office with the Govern- 
 ment. They are members of the civil service, who are 
 appointed not on account of their political opinions, 
 but because they are good men of business, who, it is 
 believed, will do their wc-k well, and they remain at
 
 14 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 their post as long as these expectations are fulfilled, no 
 matter who is at the head of affairs. The salaries of 
 the First Lord of the Treasury and of the Chancellor of 
 the Exchequer are £5,000 a year each ; the Junior Lords 
 have £1,000 each, and the Secretaries £2,000. The 
 whole cost of the department amounts to upwards of 
 £60,000 per annum, but the sum varies from year to 
 year, according to circumstances. 
 THE Th^ most important member of the Government, next 
 
 LORD CHAN- ^o the Prime Minister, is the Lord Chancellor, or, to be 
 CELLOR. rnore particular, the Lord High Chancellor of Great 
 Britain and Ireland, He is appointed Lord Keeper also 
 by the delivery of the Great Seal into his custody, and 
 he never allows the Great Seal to go out of his 
 possession. He is a Privy Councillor by virtue of his 
 office, and usually a Cabinet Minister. He presides 
 over the House of Lords, and is generally a Peer of the 
 Realm, but it is not absolutely necessary that he should 
 be so. In former times it was not uncommon to appoint 
 one not a Peer to the office of Lord Chancellor, but in 
 that case, although he presided in the House of Lords he 
 did not vote. He is the guardian of all infants, 
 lunatics and idiots ; he is visitor in behalf of the 
 Crown of all hospitals and colleges of Royal foundation ; 
 he appoints all the Justices of the Peace throughout the 
 Kingdom, and joins with the Prime Minister in the 
 appointment of all the Judges. He Is said to be the 
 keeper of the King's conscience, because in former times 
 the office was commonly held by an ecclesiastic. Now, 
 however, the dignity is invariably conferred upon a 
 lawyer of distinction, because, in addition to his other 
 duties, he sits as head of the Court of Appeal and in the 
 Supreme Court of Judicature in London. His salary as 
 Lord Chancellor is £10,000 a year, which includes 
 payment for his services as Speaker in the House of 
 Lords. Upon retiring from the office, which he does 
 with the Prime Minister, he receives a pension of £5,000 
 a year ; but only four ex-Lord Chancellors can be in 
 receipt of that pension at one time. Socially the Lord 
 Chancellor holds a very high position. He takes 
 precedence of all others, except members of the Royal 
 Family and the Archbishop of Canterbury. The office
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 15 
 
 of Lord Keeper of the Great Seal is sometimes put in 
 commission, that is to say, the duties of the office are 
 entrusted to two or three persons. 1 tc r 
 
 The great dignity and emoluments of the othce ot 
 Lord Chancellor would lead one to think that it is 
 superior to that of Prime Minister. Before the time of 
 Queen Anne, when there was no Prime Minister as we 
 now understand the term, the Lord Chancellor was the 
 chief adviser of the Sovereign, and the great dignity and 
 emoluments of the office are to be traced to this. It 
 is necessary to go only a little further back, to the time 
 of William III., to find that when he was offered the 
 Throne of England what we now understand by the 
 Cabinet had not then become a settled institution in 
 the country. As, however, the nature of the Cabinet 
 has become more defined, and the position of chief 
 adviser to the Sovereign has become disconnected from 
 the office of Lord Chancellor, the holder of that office 
 has lost much of the power possessed by his predecessors, 
 but has retained the social dignity of the position and 
 its emoluments. 
 
 It may occur to some that there is little reason tor 
 continuing to the office of Lord Chancellor so large a 
 salary as £10,000 per annum, while the Minister, under 
 whose advice he is appointed, receives only £5,000 ; 
 but there is more reason for this than we may at first 
 sight suppose. Those who attain to the high office of 
 Lord Chancellor sometimes rise from positions of 
 comparatively low degree by virtue of great natural 
 ability, indominatible perseverance, and a life of hard 
 work ; and it is held that the dignity and the emolu- 
 ments of the office form a very fit reward for the efforts 
 put forth to attain it ; indeed, the office has come to 
 be regarded as a reward for distinguished legal attain- 
 ments rather than as a remuneration for political 
 services. Besides, lawyers of eminence would not 
 accept the office unless the salary were sufficient to 
 induce them to relinquish their practice. The pension 
 too, is awarded partly as a reward for distinguished 
 service in the past, and partly as payment for services 
 given by ex-Lord Chancellors, or Law Lords, as they 
 are called ; for, as we shall presently see, those Pri\'y
 
 i6 
 
 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 LORD 
 
 PRESIDENT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 COUNCIL. 
 
 THE VICE- 
 PRESIDENT 
 
 OF THE 
 EDUCATION 
 COMMITTEE. 
 
 Councillors who are lawyers sit as Judges upon Appeals 
 from decisions of Courts in India and the Colonies, and 
 advise the Sovereign what answer to return to those 
 appealing. The office of Lord Chancellor is a position 
 to which any man who chooses the law for a profession 
 may attain to, provided he is not a Roman Catholic, 
 and it is a very great advantage to the country that so 
 rich a prize should be held up for competition. The 
 Act excluding Roman Catholics from the office was 
 passed in the tenth Session of the reign of George IV., 
 chapter 7, and is based on the principle that a Roman 
 Catholic cannot conscientiously advise a Protestant 
 Sovereign on matters ecclesiastical. 
 
 The office of Lord President of the Council is 
 always held by a Peer, and the holder of the office is 
 always in the Cabinet. He is head of the Privy Council 
 Office, and in the Privy Council Office are sub-depart- 
 ments, which carry into effect the law relating to educa- 
 tion, and other matters for the control of which there is 
 no special department of State. The salary of the 
 President is £2,000 a year. 
 
 The Vice-President of the Committee of Council on 
 Education is invariably a member of the House of 
 Commons, but whether he is a Cabinet Minister or not 
 depends upon the importance of the office for the time 
 being, and the ability of the person holding it. Being 
 head of the Education Department, the office of Vice- 
 President was very much increased in importance by the 
 passing of the Elementary Education Act in 1870, and 
 it was thought necessary in the following year that the 
 holder of the office should be a member of the Cabinet, 
 but it does not follow from this that any future holder 
 of the office will be so distinguished. In this capacity 
 he has the control of our system of national education. 
 The Committee over which he presides controls the 
 actions of all School Boards, reviews the decisions come 
 to by those Boards in many cases, and in some has the 
 power of preventing these decisions being acted upon. 
 His assistants examine the scholars in all the schools 
 receiving grants from Government, and estimate the 
 amount each should receive. But whatever is done by 
 the department over which he presides is done in
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 17 
 
 accordance with powers"" vested in it by Act • of 
 Parliament, and any future Act of Parliament may 
 enlarge or restrict those powers in any way the 
 Legislature may think fit. One of the most important 
 of the duties of the Vice-President is to lay before the 
 House of Commons a statement of the amount of money 
 required by the department for the education of the 
 people, and to obtain the sanction of the House for its 
 expenditure. The salary of the Vice-President is £2,000 
 a year. 
 
 There is a separate department for the control of 
 Elementary Education in Scotland, with separate 
 secretaries and inspectors ; and in Ireland there is a 
 National Education Department, presided over by a 
 Resident Commissioner. 
 
 The Committee of Council on Education also controls 
 the administration of the Science and Art Department 
 at South Kensington. 
 
 The Lord Privy Seal is an official whose duties are for lord privy 
 the most part formal in character and not very onerous. seal. 
 He gives authority to the Lord Chancellor to use the 
 Great Seal when occasion requires it. The holder of the 
 office receives £.2,000 per annum, but sometimes the 
 salary is not drawn, and attempts have been made to 
 abolish the office on the ground of economy ; but it is 
 contended that offices of this character should be con- 
 tinued, and given to men of experience, whom it is 
 desirable to have in the Cabinet. It is said also, that 
 such men are needed to undertake special work 
 connected with no department in particular ; and cases 
 sometimes occur in which the head of an overworked 
 department needs the assistance of a competent person 
 to conduct an enquiry of great importance, upon 
 which legislation may follow, and Lord Privy Seal is 
 usually selected in such a case. 
 
 There are five principal Secretaries of State, each of the secre- 
 whom has a seat in the Cabinet, and amongst whom are taries of 
 distributed the management of affairs at home, our state. 
 relations with foreign Powers, our business with our 
 Colonies, the care of our army, and the government of 
 India. The nature of their appointments does not 
 confine either of them to the discharge of the duties of
 
 i8 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 the particular office he undertakes ; they hav^e each full 
 powers to discharge the duties of the others without any 
 fresh commission from the Crown, and convenience 
 only dictates what department of the State they shall 
 each have charge of. 
 
 Each of these Chief Secretaries is assisted by an Under- 
 Secretary, having a seat in Parliament, and the appoint- 
 ments are generally distributed in such a way that each 
 department has a representative in both Houses of 
 Parliament. If, for instance, the Home Secretary be a 
 Peer, the Under-Secretary for the Home Department 
 will be nominated from among members of the Lower 
 House, or the reverse. The salaries of the five principal 
 Secretaries of State are £5,000 per annum each, and 
 of the Under-Secretaries £1,500, except the Under- 
 Secretary for India, who draws only £1,200. These 
 Under-Secretaries are called Parliamentary Under- 
 Secretaries, to distinguish them from the Permanent 
 Secretaries of each department, who remain at their 
 posts, no matter what Government is in office. The 
 Under Secretaries never have a seat in the Cabinet. 
 THE HOME The Secretary of State for the Home Department 
 SECRETARY, occupics a very important position in the Government. 
 He controls the inspection of factories, mines, salmon 
 fisheries, reformatories and industrial schools. He has 
 the control of all prisons ; he keeps a strict account of all 
 crimes committed throughout the country, and by 
 periodical inspection, endeavours to secure an efficient 
 body of police in every part of the Kingdom. The 
 police are under the immediate control of the various 
 Town Councils and Boards having authority over the 
 districts wherein they serve, but the Imperial Government 
 makes a grant of money to each of these authorities, in 
 part payment of the cost of their police, provided they 
 are efficient ; and by this payment purchases the right 
 to inspect. Upon the Home Secretary also devolves the 
 duty of considering and advising the Crown with 
 reference to applications for pardon or commutation 
 of sentence in the case of convicted criminals ; and he 
 has the power of reviewing decisions by Magistrates and 
 even remitting penalties. The power of dismissing 
 magistrates rests with the Lord Chancellor, but dismissal
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 19 
 
 is often preceded by, and a consequence of a repre- 
 sentation from the Home Secretary. 
 
 The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs conducts the 
 our diplomatic intercourse with foreign Powers. He secretary 
 instructs our Ambassadors and our Consuls at foreign for 
 
 ports in this respect. He receives the Ambassadors from foreign 
 foreign Courts, and transacts all the business of the affairs. 
 State with them. He negotiates all treaties with 
 foreign Powers, whether they relate to commerce or the 
 settlement of international disputes. It is an office of 
 great trust and responsibility, as upon the good manage- 
 ment of the Secretary of State for the Foreign Depart- 
 ment often rests the question of peace or war. The 
 Minister selected for this office is, as a rule, distinguished 
 for his soundness of judgment and his extended 
 knowledge of politics and diplomacy. 
 
 The Secretary of State for the Colonies, as the name of the 
 his office implies, superintends the actions of this country colonial 
 with regard to our Colonies. He recommends for appoint- secretary. 
 ment all Colonial Governors and controls the government 
 of each Colony according to the powers conferred upon 
 him in each case — that is to say, he has certain general 
 powers of control over the Governments of all Colonies, 
 but in several cases, special Acts have been passed by 
 Parliament, restricting his powers, or conferring upon 
 him special powers. Whenever any Colony requires the 
 assistance of the mother country in money matters, it is 
 through the Colonial Secretary that the application 
 comes before Parliament. The assistance is usually 
 granted in the shape of loans, or rather guarantees, 
 upon the part of the country, to pay back any loan a 
 colony may raise if the colony should not be able to do 
 so. Unless the Acts of Colonial Parliaments and 
 Legislatures are approved by the King on the advice 
 of the Colonial Secretary they cannot remain in 
 operation. 
 
 The Secretary of State for War has control of the the 
 army at home and abroad, and is superior even to the secretary 
 Commander-in-Chief, because he represents the Sove- for war. 
 reign, who is head of the army, though not actually 
 commanding. All movements of troops are made by 
 his direction ; all appointments and promotions by the
 
 20 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 Commander-in-Chief are made subject to the King's 
 approval as advised by him in accordance with the 
 provisions of the Army Regulation Act. He is responsible 
 for the efficiency of the army to the Crown and to 
 Parliament, by whom he is required each year to justify 
 the cost to which he puts the country on that account. 
 He is assisted by a Parliamentary Under-Secretary 
 who has a seat in one or other branch of the Legislature. 
 Including the pay of the soldiers, the War Department 
 spends as much as £14,000,000 per annum, even in 
 times of peace. 
 THE 'pi^g Secretary of State for India may be said to be 
 
 SECRETARY ^j^g ruler of our Indian Empire during his term of office. 
 FOR INDIA, j-jg represents the Crown in all our dealings with India, 
 and though he consults, from time to time, with a 
 Council formed by men whose great experience in Indian 
 affairs qualifies them for the office, the responsibility of 
 all decisions come to rests upon him. 
 
 In order to clearly understand the position of the 
 Secretary of State for India and his Council, we must 
 go back to the time when India was colonised by a body 
 of British merchants, known as the East India Company. 
 The East India Company was founded on the last 
 day of the year 1600, by Queen Elizabeth granting a 
 charter to the Earl of Cumberland, and 215 Knights, 
 Aldermen, and merchants for the exclusive rights of 
 trading in India for fifteen years. 
 
 This was 100 years after the Portuguese had found 
 their way to the shores of India by sea ; but the 
 Company succeeded in establishing factories on the coast, 
 and, in course of time, by dint of superior energy, 
 became the chief European traders with India. As they 
 progressed, fresh charters were granted to them by the 
 Crown, and, as their possessions increased it became 
 necessary to establish an armed force to protect their 
 factories and warehouses. This force, in course of time, 
 developed into an army, by nieans of which the 
 Company was able to extend its operations far inland, 
 until it became, under the Sovereigns of England, ruler 
 of the Indian Empire. 
 
 The Government of India was carried on by the East 
 India Company as late as 1784, but in that year a
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 
 
 21 
 
 department of State was formed by an Act of Parliament 
 called the Board of Control, consisting of six Pri\'y 
 Councillors, who were to control the Company in the 
 administration of affairs in India ; but in 1858 both 
 the Company and the Board of Control were superseded 
 by an Act of Parliament, conferring upon the Secretary 
 of State and the Council of India the powers jointly 
 possessed by the Board of Control and the Company. 
 The Council of India, as constituted by the Act, consists 
 of ten members. They are not permitted to sit in 
 Parliament, and they retain their office during good 
 behaviour, at a salary of £1,200 per annum. 
 
 But the Secretary of State, assisted by the Council 
 and his Secretaries, decides only what shall be the 
 general policy of the Government of India ; the actual 
 administration of the affairs of India in detail devolves 
 upon a subordinate department in India itself, headed 
 by the Governor-General, or Viceroy, of India, and styled 
 the Government of India. The Commander-in-Chief 
 of the army in India is the principal member of the 
 Government ; and there are five other Members, who 
 are styled Ordinary Members. Besides these there are 
 additional Members for making laws and regulations, 
 and six Secretaries to the Government — one for Home 
 Affairs, who controls the administration of the law in 
 the same way as our Home Secretary does in England ; 
 another for Finance, who manages taxes and the 
 expenditure of public money ; a third for Foreign Affairs, 
 w^ho transacts all business which may arise between the 
 Indian Government and the Governments of surrounding 
 countries ; a fourth — military ; a fifth — legislative ; 
 and a sixth for Public Works, such as the making of 
 roads, railways, docks, and carrying out irrigation 
 schemes, of which there is great need in India, owing to 
 the heat of the climate and the recurrence of seasons of 
 drought. 
 
 India now comprises nine separate provinces. The 
 three Presidencies are regulated by their three Governors, 
 each of whom is assisted by a small Council, his private 
 advisers, and some Additional Members for making laws 
 and regulations, besides an establishment of Secretaries, 
 Revenue Collectors, Judges and Magistrates. These 
 
 THE 
 GOVERNOR- 
 GENERAL 
 OF INDIA.
 
 22 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 officials are responsible to the Governor of their 
 Presidency ; the Governors of the Presidencies are 
 responsible to the Governor-General, or Viceroy, who 
 is responsible to the Secretary of State, who, in his turn, 
 is responsible to the Crown and to Parliament. 
 
 The elaborate machinery for the government of India 
 is necessary on account of its great size. The Presidency 
 of Bengal alone is six times as large as Great Britain, 
 and the population under British rule in India numbers 
 about 250,000,000 There is no Parliament in India as 
 there is in most of our Colonies. Laws are made there 
 by the Council just referred to ; but recently, natives 
 who have distinguished themselves have been advanced 
 to positions of trust in the Government ; and it is hoped 
 that, in time, as the native population becomes 
 educated, the policy of admitting natives to the 
 administration will become general. 
 THE FIRST The First Lord of the Admiralty is the Cabinet 
 LORD OF THE Minister who undertakes the management of the British 
 ADMIRALTY, navy. Formerly the head of the navy w^as styled the 
 Lord High Admiral of England, whose position as 
 regards the navy corresponded with that of the Lord 
 High Treasurer as regards the nation's receipt and 
 expenditure. But the office of Lord High Admiral also, 
 like the office of Lord High Treasurer has been of late 
 put into Commission, that is to say, the duties of the 
 office were distributed among several persons, who are 
 called Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. They are 
 five in number, including the First Lord. They are also 
 called the Board of Admiralty, because the original 
 intention w^as that the Lords Commissioners of the 
 Admiralty, with the Chief Secretary, should consult 
 together upon matters connected with the navy. This 
 was thought necessary, because it generally happened 
 that the office of First Lord of the Admiralty was given 
 to a statesman who was chosen on account of his high 
 standing as an administrator rather than because of 
 his knowledge of ships of war ; indeed, cases have been 
 known of the office of First Lord of the Admiralty being 
 held by statesmen who had never been on a ship of war in 
 their lives. This may appear strange, but a little consider- 
 ation will show that it is not by any means a bad feature.
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 23 
 
 Let us consider the matter. The First Lord is the 
 appointed, we will say, because he has shown himself lords com- 
 to be a man of sound judgment in every department missioners. 
 of State which he has occupied. Two of the Lords 
 Commissioners, we will suppose, are appointed because 
 they can boast of long experience in naval affairs, 
 having served in the navy from their youth and occupied 
 every position in the Service from midshipman to admiral. 
 The Fourth Lord owes his appointment, let us say, to his 
 experience in shipbuilding or dockyard management. 
 The Fifth Lord may be a rising statesman, having 
 no connection with the navy ; and the case of the 
 Secretary, we will suppose is the same. The First 
 Lord would be the only Cabinet Minister among them, 
 and he would be a member of either the House of Lords 
 or the House of Commons ; the others would be 
 described as Sea Lords, or Civil Lords, or Junior Lords 
 as the case may be ; and the Secretary would be, in 
 all probability, a member of the House of Commons. 
 Now it is easy to understand that a man who has spent 
 all his life in a profession might become prejudiced in 
 favour of its old customs and impatient of any change. 
 This, it is supposed, would be the case with men who 
 had served in the navy all their lives, and consequently, 
 it has been held impolitic to place at the head of the 
 navy a naval officer, however distinguished, altogether 
 uncontrolled. At the same time no one would be more 
 competent to give an opinion upon any question of 
 detail connected with the navy than an admiral. 
 Accordingly it has been thought best to associate 
 together several competent men, each of them experienced 
 in one department or another, and place at their head 
 a distinguished statesman, who would, on all matters of 
 moment, consult with them and form an opinion upon 
 the basis of their experience. In this way, it is believed, 
 a thoroughly sound and unprejudiced decision is arrived 
 at. 
 
 The First Lord of the Admiralty advised in this 
 manner has supreme control of everything connected 
 with our navy ; it is under his direction that ships are 
 built and manned, and that officers are appointed to 
 command them. No ship of war sets sail without orders
 
 24 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 from the Admiralty, and all commanders are responsible 
 to the Board for misconduct. The First Lord of the 
 Admiralty has to provide vessels, or transports, for the 
 conveyance of troops when required by the Secretary 
 of State for War ; and the Coastguard Service, and 
 the Royal Naval Reser\-e, which form our reserves of 
 seamen, are under his control. The men of the Coast- 
 guard are posted round the entire coast, not only to 
 prevent smugglers landing goods upon which custom's 
 duty should be paid, but it is part of their duty to report 
 to the Admiralty if a foreign man-of-war is seen by 
 them, no matter how peaceful her appearance and 
 intentions. They are also charged with the saving of 
 life from shipwreck by means of the rocket and life- 
 boat apparatus, the protection of wrecked property and 
 the instruction of the naval reserve of merchant seamen. 
 The Royal Naval Reserve are merchant seamen who 
 undergo twenty-eight days' drill in each year, who 
 receive an annual retaining fee paid through the Board 
 of Trade, and who undertake to serve in the navy upon 
 any sudden emergency. The expenditure upon the navy, 
 including the pay of the men, the cost of the ships and 
 fortifications, and the salaries of officials, exceeds 
 £10,000,000 a year. 
 PRESIDENT The President of the Board of Trade, who is invariably 
 
 OF THE a Cabinet Minister, occupies a very important position 
 BOARD OF in the Government. England is essentially a commercial 
 
 TRADE. country, and the Minister, as the head of the department 
 which has the control of her commerce must necessarily 
 be an important personage. England is at once great 
 as a mine, a manufactory and an entrepot. Being 
 rich in coal, in iron and in people, we of necessity 
 produce more than we can consume, and our merchants 
 send, and our railways and our ships carry, the surplus 
 to towns in England where it can be disposed of, or 
 across the seas to countries whose people are in want of 
 our productions. We do not grow tea in this country, 
 nor cotton ; but we need both, and our merchants 
 bring them to us from abroad. The tea we use as an 
 article of diet, but the cotton is brought to us in its raw 
 state, and our cotton spinners turn it into calico and 
 other useful materials. This is done in such large
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 25 
 
 quantities that when we have supplied our wants there 
 is still a large quantity left for our merchants to send 
 abroad to places where cotton is neither grown nor spun, 
 and where the people are anxious to pay us for bringing 
 it across the seas and spinning it, and afterwards 
 carrying it to them. And besides this, we are continually 
 receiving in our ports and harbours goods and merchan- 
 dise from abroad in excess of our own wants, and these 
 goods and merchandise here find ships by which they 
 can be conveyed to countries where the people are 
 anxious to receive them. In all our transactions with 
 foreign countries by which England grows rich, the 
 carriers play a most important part, and it is these 
 carriers, and all connected therewith, whom the Board of 
 Trade chiefly controls. But so great are the ramifica- 
 tions of trade that we find the office of the Board of 
 Trade dealing with, and having superintendence over the 
 opening and proper conduct of Railways and Tramways, 
 the publication and revision of the Standard of Weights 
 and Measures and Tariffs, the issue of Patents for 
 Inventions, the Registration of Copyright in Designs 
 and Trade Marks, the control of Art Unions and of 
 Industrial Exhibitions, the supply of Water, Gas and 
 Electricity, the conduct of Insurance and other Joint 
 Stock Companies ; it is chief in the administration of 
 all matters connected with the Sea, Lighthouses, 
 Harbours, Piers and Foreshores, and the Oyster and 
 Mussel Fisheries are under its control ; it has to do 
 with the Registration and Measurements of Ships, the 
 Testing of Chain Cables, and the Survey of Passenger 
 Ships, the Examination of Masters and Mates of Ships, 
 the Health and Discipline of Seamen, the Rule of the 
 Road at Sea, the whole System of Pilotage, and Signals 
 at Sea, the use of Rockets, Lifeboats and all means of 
 Saving Life at Sea, and the Care of Distressed Seamen 
 Abroad ; it also enquires into the causes of Wrecks and 
 Explosions at Sea. In no department of the State is 
 there so great a necessity that the Chief should be 
 possessed not only of power to comprehend the laws 
 and requirements of commerce, but also a capacity for 
 administrative details. At one moment he is engaged 
 upon the most grave questions of principle, and at
 
 26 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 another with the minute details of practice. To-day 
 his advice may be required on a delicate point connected 
 with some treaty with a foreign Power ; to-morrow^ 
 he may be laying down a minute rule for the survey of 
 the boilers of a passenger steamer, or the regulation of 
 an oyster-bed. 
 
 The Board is theoretically composed of members of 
 the Privy Council, who are known as the Right 
 Honourable the Lords of the Committee of His Majesty's 
 Privy Council, appointed for the consideration of all 
 matters relating to Trade and Foreign Plantations. 
 The matters connected with "Foreign Plantations," 
 which is only the original description of w^hat we now^ 
 understand by our Colonies, have been taken aw^ay 
 from the Lords of Trade, and now form the duties of 
 the Colonial Office. But although the Board is 
 theoretically composed of a Committee of the Privy 
 Council, the President and the Parliamentary Secretary 
 are responsible to Parliament and the country for the 
 policy pursued by the Board, and under their 
 superintendence the business of the department is 
 managed by a Permanent Secretary, and four Assistant 
 Secretaries, who carry into effect the provisions of Acts 
 of Parliament relating to Railways, Harbours, the 
 Mercantile Marine and the collecting of Statistics. 
 
 In all matters connected with Commerce, so far as 
 carrying into effect the intentions of the Legislature is 
 concerned, the Board of Trade is supreme, and its 
 uniform object is to see that the public is well served, 
 and that life and property are not unnecessarily exposed 
 to danger. For instance, no railway or tramway can 
 be opened until it has been inspected by an officer of 
 the Board of Trade ; this is supposed to prevent 
 companies opening imperfect and dangerous lines. In 
 the same way no steam vessel is permitted to carry 
 passengers unless the regulations of the Board are 
 complied with ; and it is the Board of Trade who 
 advises His Majesty in Council what orders should be 
 made as regards lights to be shown by vessels at sea. 
 
 The Board of Trade, as the department having control 
 over the Mercantile Marine of the country, also 
 undertakes the duty of keeping the members of the
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 
 
 27 
 
 Royal Naval Reserve together, and of paying their 
 annual retaining fees. The Board also collects statistics 
 and furnishes periodical returns of our imports and 
 exports. 
 
 The salary of the President of the Board of Trade is 
 £2,000 per annum, of the Parliamentary Secretary 
 £1,500, of the Permanent Secretary £1,800, and of the 
 three Assistant Secretaries, £1,200 each. 
 
 The President of the Local Government Board is an 
 official who was formerly known as the President of the 
 Poor Law Board, he is not always in the Cabinet, but 
 his office is rising in importance every year. He controls 
 all matters relating to public health as far as it is 
 influenced by local administration. He is, to a great 
 extent, the controller of all local boards elected by the 
 ratepayers of the various towns and counties throughout 
 the country for the purpose of administering relief to the 
 poor, and for carrying out such local public works as do 
 not come within the province of the Home Secretary. 
 The department is represented by several inspectors, 
 one of whom upon the occasion of any complaint 
 as to the conduct of relieving officers, masters of 
 \vorkhouses, or Boards of Guardians, proceeds to the 
 spot, and conducts an enquiry into the matter com- 
 plained of. 
 
 The Minister for Agriculture presides over the 
 department which by a recent statute has been charged 
 with the cultivation of the land, the collection of 
 statistics showing the character and extent of the crops 
 grown in each year, the rearing of live stock, and the 
 importation of cattle. It is particularly responsible for 
 checking the spread of contagious disease among cattle, 
 and for this purpose is endowed with large powers for 
 regulating and prohibiting the importation of cattle 
 from abroad and the movement of cattle within the 
 United Kingdom. It has inspectors in its employment 
 who move about the country enquiring as to the 
 character and extent of alleged outbreaks, and these 
 officers have a discretionary power of ordering the 
 isolation or slaughter of the entire stock of a farm, and 
 assessing the amount of compensation to be granted by 
 the State. 
 
 PRESIDENT 
 OF THE 
 LOCAL 
 GOVERN- 
 MENT 
 BOARD. 
 
 THE 
 MINISTER 
 FOR AGRI- 
 CULTURE.
 
 28 
 
 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 The President, whose salary is fixed at £2,000 a year, 
 is not always a member of the Cabinet ; he has 
 associated with him as a department of the Pri\'y Council 
 the Lord President of the Council and five other 
 Privy Councillors, Members of the Government, who 
 toother constitute the Board of Agriculture. 
 FIRST COM- The First Commissioner of Works and Public Buildings 
 MiSSiONER is seldom a member of the Cabinet, and is an official of 
 OF WORKS, minor importance. He is at the head of the department 
 which controls all expenditure connected with the repair 
 of royal palaces and public buildings and the 
 maintenance of royal parks. He has also to control the 
 expenditure on account of furniture for the public offices, 
 and if any new offices are required, his is the department 
 to w^hich plans are submitted, and which superintends 
 the w^ork when actually in progress. He is assisted 
 by several secretaries, surveyors and accountants, but 
 he is himself the only representative of the depart- 
 ment having a seat in Parliament. His salary is £2,000 
 a year. 
 
 The duties of the Postmaster-General are more easily 
 described than those of any other member of the 
 Government. He is at the head of the Post Office, which 
 includes the carrying of parcels and the control of the 
 telegraph system throughout the country. Whether the 
 holder of the office is a member of the Cabinet or not 
 entirely depends upon personal considerations, because 
 no questions of State policy are likely to arise out of 
 the management of a department which is nothing 
 more than a great carrying concern. 
 
 The business of transmitting letters might be carried 
 on by a company in the same way as the railways are 
 managed by private persons ; in the same way in fact 
 as the telegraph was formerly managed, but it is thought 
 best that so large an undertaking as the Post Office 
 should not be in the hands of any private person, for 
 fear one section of the community should be favoured at 
 the expense of another. Besides this, it is expedient 
 that the country should have a cheap and rapid means 
 of inter-communication ; the cheaper and more rapid 
 the means of inter-communication the greater the 
 amount of business transacted by the country, and the
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 29 
 
 greater its prosperity. Now it is clear that if the letter 
 carrying were in the hands of private persons, their chief 
 object would be profit for themselves ; but it is presumed 
 that the head of the public department seeks in the first 
 place the convenience ot the public, and, in theory, 
 though not in practice, it is a rule with the Postmaster- 
 General to make as little profit as prudence will permit. 
 The salary of the Postmaster-General is £.2,500 a year. 
 The profit of the department varies because the charge 
 for carrying letters, parcels and telegrams is re- 
 viewed from time to time, and reduced as circum- 
 stances will allow, but it amounts to about £3,000,000 
 per year. 
 
 The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is the head chan- 
 of the department which manages the property cellor of 
 attached to the Dukedom of Lancaster, which formerly i-^g duchy 
 belonged to the Sovereigns of England, but is now held qf 
 
 by the Crown as the property of the State. The duties Lancaster. 
 of the office are not onerous, and are for the most part 
 discharged by the Chancellor's subordinates, the chief 
 of whom holds a position somewhat analogous to that 
 of steward to a nobleman possessing large estates, but 
 of course the position is one of greater distinction. It 
 sometimes happens that the office of Chancellor of the 
 Duchy of Lancaster is held by a statesman whose 
 services are needed in the Cabinet, but whose age 
 prevents him from taking the control of a department 
 requiring much attention. 
 
 The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, who is always a Peer, lord 
 lives in Ireland and controls the administration of the lieutenant 
 law throughout that country in the same way as the ok 
 
 Home Secretary does in this. But he is something Ireland. 
 more than a Home Secretary ; the judges and other 
 officials are appointed upon his recommendation, and 
 he lives at Dublin Castle in a style equal to that of 
 some foreign princes. His salary is no less than 
 £20,000 a year, but being generally a nobleman of 
 great wealth he usually spends thrice that sum while 
 in office. 
 
 The lord lieutenants of counties, the sheriffs and the 
 magistrates are all appointed by him as representing the 
 Crown; all applications for reprieve of convicted criminals
 
 30 
 
 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 are made to him, and he is in all respects King of Ireland, 
 subject only to the Sovereign. But in all his proceed- 
 ings he acts in concert with the members of the Cabinet 
 in London, of whom his Chief Secretary is sometimes 
 
 one. 
 THE CHIEF The Chief Secretary of the 
 SECRETARY Ireland has an office in London as 
 
 Lord Lieutenant of 
 well as in Dublin, 
 
 FOR and during the sitting of Parliament he usually remains 
 
 IRELAND, in England. While the Lord Lieutenant represents the 
 
 Government in Ireland, his Chief Secretary represents 
 
 the Irish Government in Parliament. Upon occasions 
 
 when matters of great moment to Ireland are under 
 
 discussion in the Legislature, it is usual for both the 
 
 Lord Lieutenant and the Chief Secretary to be in 
 
 London, the one to represent the department in the 
 
 House of Lords, the other in the House of Commons. 
 
 Upon such occasions the office of Lord Lieutenant is put 
 
 in commission, and his seals of office are left in the care 
 
 of two or three of the Irish administration, probably the 
 
 Lord Chancellor, the Lord Chief Justice, and the 
 
 Commander-in-Chief. The Chief Secretary of the Lord 
 
 Lieutenant has a salary of £.4,425 per annum. 
 
 SECRETARY The office of Secretary for Scotland is of recent origin, 
 
 FOR and was created for the discharge of those duties in the 
 
 SCOTLAND, civil administration of Scotland formerly undertaken by 
 
 the Lord Advocate as a subordinate of the Secretary of 
 
 State for the Home Department. The Secretary for 
 
 Scotland now practically discharges in Scotland all 
 
 those functions pertaining to the Home Office in England 
 
 and the Chief Secretary of the Lord Lieutenant in Ireland. 
 
 His salary is £2,000 per annum, and he has numerous 
 
 assistants and inspectors under his control. 
 
 ATTORNEY- The Attorney-General is the officer who represents 
 
 GENERAL, the Crown in Courts of Law in all cases where the rights 
 
 of the State have to be defended ; he is knighted upon 
 
 being appointed, but is not made a Privy Councillor. 
 
 He gives opinions upon points of law which arise in 
 
 connexion with the Government, and defends the policy 
 
 of the Government in the House of Commons when 
 
 legal questions are at issue. He quits office with the 
 
 Prime Minister who appoints him. The office of 
 
 Attorney-General, though of great dignity and im-
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 
 
 31 
 
 portance of itself, is of still greater importance when 
 regarded as a stepping-stone to higher office. By custom 
 he is entitled to the first consideration should any 
 vacancy occur on the Bench of Judges during his term 
 of office, and he is always regarded as successor to the 
 Lord Chancellor of his political party. Recently it has 
 been made a condition of his appointment that he shall 
 abstain from private practice in the Courts. 
 
 The Solicitor-General holds a position with regard to solicitor- 
 the Attorney-General somewhat similar to that an general. 
 Under Secretary of State holds to the Chief Secretary of 
 his department, except that he is not appointed by the 
 Attorney-General but by the Prime Minister himself. He 
 is appointed from among the King's Counsel, must by 
 custom be a member of the House of Commons, is 
 knighted upon being appointed, and quits office with 
 the Minister who appoints him. He usually succeeds to 
 the office of Attorney-General, if it should become 
 vacant by death or preferment, or in any way other 
 than that of a change of administration. Like the 
 Attorney-General the holder of this office acts exclusively 
 for the Crown. 
 
 There are also an Attorney-General and a Solicitor- 
 General for Ireland, who represent the Crown in the 
 Irish Courts, and sometimes they secure seats in the 
 House of Commons, where they actively support the 
 Government in respect of all measures affecting Ireland. 
 These officers retire with the Government in which they 
 serve. 
 
 The representatives of Scotland in the Government, 
 beside the Secretary for Scotland, are the Lord xA.dvocate 
 and the Solicitor-General for Scotland, who occupy a 
 position somewhat similar to that of the Attorney- 
 General and Solicitor-General in England. The Lord 
 Advocate has an office in London, and has a salary of 
 £3,279. The Lord Advocate and Solicitor-General for 
 Scotland retire from office with the Prime Minister who 
 appoints them. 
 
 The officers of the King's household, who are appointed 
 by the Prime Minister, and remain in office only as long household 
 as he, are the Lord Steward, who presides over the 
 Board of Green Cloth, which manages the palaces set 
 
 LORD 
 ADVOCATE. 
 
 THE KING S
 
 32 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 apart as residences for the Sovereign ; the Comptroller 
 of the Household, who is a member of the Board of Green 
 Cloth ; the Lord Chamberlain of the Household, who 
 controls all persons emplo3'ed in the chambers of the 
 Sovereign, and his deputy, the Vice-Chamberlain ; the 
 Master of the Horse, who has control over the equerries, 
 grooms and all others concerned in the management of 
 the Sovereign's horses ; the Master of the Buckhounds, 
 who occupies a like position with regard to the kennels 
 of the Sovereign ; and the Mistress of the Robes, who 
 superintends the Robing of the Queen. 
 
 Some think it very singular that such officials as these 
 — the Master of the Horse and the Mistress of the Robes, 
 for instance — should go out of office with the Prime 
 Minister ; but it is held that these officers, who hold in 
 some cases almost daily intercourse with the Sovereign, 
 might exercise such influence over the King or Queen, 
 or both, as materially to interfere with the advice given 
 by the more responsible Minister, and thus prevent good 
 government. 
 
 The office of Lord Chamberlain must not be con- 
 founded with that of Lord Great Chamberlain of 
 England, which Is hereditary and the duties of which 
 consist In ordering coronations and other public 
 solemnities in which the Sovereign takes part. The 
 Lord Great Chamberlain is the sixth great Officer of 
 State. The seventh Is the Lord High Constable of 
 England, who, in recent times has been appointed to 
 act only on the occasion of a coronation. The Earl 
 Marshal, head of the Herald's College, is the eighth 
 great Officer of the State, and the office Is hereditary. 
 The office of Lord High Steward of England, formerly 
 described as the first grand officer of the Crown, is 
 revived only on the coronation or the trial of a Peer. 
 
 Having now described the whole of the officers of the 
 State who act under the Prime Minister, let us run over 
 the list, taking them In the order of their Importance. 
 
 The following are Invariably Privy Councillors and 
 members of the King's Cabinet : The First Lord of the 
 Treasury, the Lord Chancellor, the Lord President of 
 the Council, the Lord Privy Seal, the Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer, the five principal Secretaries of State, for
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 33 
 
 the Home, the Foreign, the Colonial, the War,^and the 
 Indian departments, the First Lord of the Admiralty, 
 and the President of the Board of Trade. 
 
 The following are sometimes in the Cabinet, and 
 sometimes not : The Chief Secretary for Ireland, the 
 First Commissioner of Works, the Postmaster-General, 
 the President of the Local Government Board, the Vice- 
 President of the Committee of Council on Education, 
 the Secretary for Scotland, the Minister of Agriculture, 
 and the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. 
 
 The following never have seats in the Cabinet : The 
 Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, the three Junior Lords of 
 the Treasury, and the two Secretaries to the Treasury ; 
 the Junior Lords of the Admiralty and the Secretary to 
 the Admiralty ; the Attorney-General and Solicitor- 
 General for Ireland ; the Lord-Advocate and Solicitor- 
 General for Scotland ; the five Under-Secretaries to the 
 five principal Secretaries of State ; the Parliamentary 
 Secretary of the Board of Trade, the Secretary to the 
 Local Government Board, and the officials of the Royal 
 Household. 
 
 X\
 
 34 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE RESPONSIBILITY OF MINISTERS. 
 
 The purpose of this chapter Is to explain what Is meant 
 when people speak of " the responsibility of Ministers." 
 Every official whose duties have been briefly described 
 in the last chapter, Is, of course, responsible for the 
 discharge of those duties, just In the same way as 
 every person who undertakes to serve another Is 
 responsible. Equally, as a matter of course, the superior 
 officers Incur greater responsibility upon undertaking 
 the duties of their several posts than do the inferior. 
 The principal Secretary of State for the Home Depart- 
 ment, for Instance, Incurs greater responsibility than 
 the Under-Secretary for the Home Department, whom 
 he appoints. This, however. Is not the full meaning of 
 the word "responsibility," as applied to Ministers of 
 the Crown. 
 
 A long time ago the great officers of State were 
 appointed by the Sovereign, without much regard to 
 their qualification for the offices to which they were 
 appointed. The King appointed whom he chose, and 
 the office bearer very often considered only the personal 
 interests of the King, without having any regard 
 whatever for the Interests of the King's subjects. Thus 
 we read of a King appointing his favourite companion 
 Lord Chancellor, and perhaps we read of the same 
 favourite doing very bad actions as Lord Chancellor 
 without losing his office. Nor did it matter In those 
 days whether the King's Ministers had seats In 
 Parliament or not. It is the same now in theory, but it 
 has become the practice never to appoint anyone to fill 
 the high offices of State who has not a seat In either one 
 or other of the Houses of Parliament, because It Is felt 
 to be necessary that the heads of departments should 
 always have the confidence of the people, and be liable
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 
 
 35 
 
 to be called to account in Parliament for their acts. 
 And this is the key to the whole matter. 
 
 The Ministers of the Crown can carry on the declara- 
 government of the country without the assistance of tion of 
 the House of Lords and the House of Commons up to a war. 
 certain point, and the work they have to do can be 
 done quite well without any interference upon the part 
 of Parliament, but for two things. In Chapter II., 
 which describes the position of the Crown, it is stated 
 that the King can declare war against any foreign 
 Powers without asking the permission of Parliament. 
 This is true, but inasmuch as Parliament passes the 
 Mutiny Act for only one year, the King and his 
 Ministers would have no control over the army and na\y, 
 unless Parliament choose to re-enact the Mutiny Act 
 year by year ; consequently, although the King may 
 declare war, it is the people who say whether the war 
 shall be carried on ; and no Minister would advise the 
 Sovereign to declare a war unless he was quite sure the 
 people would agree to continue it. In the same wav 
 Parliament does not authorise the imposition and 
 collecting of taxes for more than one year at a time, 
 consequently Parliament must be called together once 
 in each year to vote money or supplies to the Crown. 
 If this were not done, neither the soldiers, nor marines, 
 nor any of the servants of the Crown could be paid, and 
 the whole machinery of the Government would come to 
 a standstill. 
 
 Parliament being called together, the Ministers of the ministerial 
 Crown must severally make their appearance in one or crisis. 
 other of the Houses of Parliament, and make known 
 the wants of the Crown. Immediately they appear in 
 Parliament the representatives of the nation can call 
 them to account for their acts during the time Parliament 
 has not been sitting. Each Minister has to answer for 
 the good management of his own department, and if 
 any Minister has committed any great mistake, his 
 conduct immediately becomes the subject of discussion ; 
 but though the act criticised may be the act of a single 
 Minister, the whole Cabinet accept the responsibility of 
 it, and regard it as the act of the Sovereign, done in 
 accordance with their advice. So important is the good
 
 36 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 and wise conduct of a Ministr}' held that this discussion 
 takes precedence of everything, and no business is 
 transacted until it is disposed of. The debate may 
 continue over many days ; and all the colleagues of 
 the Minister whose official conduct is questioned will do 
 their best to defend him, and in the end the question 
 will be put to the vote. This is called a Ministerial 
 crisis, and the motion a motion of want of confidence. 
 The want of confidence may be expressed either by a 
 direct assertion to that effect, or by a motion of dis- 
 agreement with some specific proposition or act. If the 
 result of the voting should be that a larger number vote 
 in condemnation of the act or proposal than in approval 
 of it, the whole of the Ministers resign their places, 
 including every official whose duties are described in the 
 last chapter. 
 RESIGNATION We must observe that the members of the Govern- 
 OF OFFICE, ment resign, not because the Sovereign is displeased 
 with the manner in which they have managed affairs, 
 but because the House of Commons is displeased with 
 the advice they have given to the Sovereign ; and we 
 must notice further that although many of those who 
 voted in condemnation of the particular act would in 
 all other respects approve the conduct of the Ministry, 
 yet, notwithstanding that it is only a single act of a 
 single Minister which is condemned, no Government 
 could remain in office after this condemnation has been 
 passed by Parliament. 
 
 This is the most remarkable feature in the practical 
 working of the British Constitution. In the first place, 
 the responsibility of every single act of every individual 
 member of the Cabinet is accepted by the whole body of 
 the Government and all are united in defending each 
 other ; but immediately any single act of any individual 
 Minister is condemned by the elected representatives of 
 the country, they all feel the reproach and forfeit the 
 dignity and emoluments of office, because they are too 
 honourable to hold a post a single day after their 
 competency to discharge its duties with credit to the 
 country has been successfully questioned. 
 
 They have, however, one alternative. If they have 
 reason to believe that their policy is approved by the
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 
 
 37 
 
 THE 
 COUNTRY. 
 
 country itself, though not by the then existing House of 
 Commons, they can advise the Sovereign to dissolve 
 Parliament and cause another to be elected so that the appeal to 
 voice of the country itself shall be expressed upon the 
 point at issue. This is what is called appealing to the 
 country, and if the new Parliament is of the same 
 opinion as that which was dissolved, the Government 
 has no choice and must resign. 
 
 No sooner has a Government resigned than a new 
 one has to be appointed, and this is one of the very few 
 occasions upon which the personal views and wishes 
 of the Sovereign have direct influence upon the course of 
 events, but even in this case the Sovereign's wishes are 
 not supreme. The Sovereign must appoint, as Prime 
 Minister, one in whom Parliament has confidence, or 
 who, in other words is trusted by the country ; and 
 the Prime Minister, charged by his Sovereign with the 
 duty of forming a Government, must, as we have already 
 seen, in the first place, find some twenty other men 
 among his adherents competent and willing to undertake 
 the duties of the principal offices of State. All those 
 whom the Prime Minister has thus chosen, who happen 
 to be members of the House of Commons, vacate their 
 seats immediately they accept the office to which they 
 have been appointed, and have to go to their con- 
 stituencies and ask to be re-elected. This practice 
 originated in the desire to prevent the Crown from 
 prociu"ing support in the Commons by appointing its 
 members to offices of profit. Ministers who have 
 accepted office prior to their election, do not vacate 
 their seats in the House of Commons upon changing 
 from one office to another. 
 
 Thus it comes to pass that the appointments made by 
 the Sovereign have to be endorsed by the electors ; and 
 although technically speaking, the appointments are 
 made independently altogether of the expressed wishes 
 of the people, and entirely at the pleasure of the 
 Sovereign, unless those Ministers who are commoners 
 can secure re-election, it becomes necessary that they 
 resign their posts, that others may be appointed in their 
 stead. This, however, seldom occurs. Appointments 
 to high offices of State are made with so much care, and 
 
 ACCEPTAN'CE 
 
 OF OFFICE 
 
 VACATES 
 
 THE SEAT. 

 
 38 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 the men chosen are of such high repute, that it is 
 seldom a constituency cannot be found to re-elect them, 
 even if their former constituents refuse to endorse the 
 appointment and prefer others in their stead. 
 
 It is, therefore, no exaggeration to say that, although 
 the Ministers of the Crown are not actually nominated 
 by the people as represented in the House of Commons, 
 they are practically so appointed, and, as a matter of 
 fact, hold office during the pleasure of Parliament. The 
 natural consequence is that they are careful to 
 give such advice to the Sovereign as they believe 
 will be approved by a majority of the people, and 
 that not a small but a very large majority. Now, 
 if it happened that the Sovereign wished to submit 
 a measure to Parliament which the Cabinet believed 
 would be contrary to the will of the people, they would 
 refuse to give their consent to his proposals, and if he 
 were to insist they would resign, and he would have to 
 find some Ministers who would endorse his proposals 
 before they could be submitted to Parliament. If, for 
 instance, he desired to imprison anyone who was 
 personally obnoxious to him, as Kings in former times 
 often did, he would have to find a Cabinet which would 
 approve his wishes. If he were successful in securing 
 such a Cabinet, which would in these days be almost 
 impossible, the policy and legality of the act would be 
 called in question in Parliament, and the Ministers who 
 advised it would be compelled to resign. As no Ministry 
 would act so unwisely as to give advice which they 
 knew would inevitably lead to their resignation, the 
 King, although supreme, would find it impossible to do 
 this improper thing ; and in these circumstances we 
 may truly say the King can do no wrong. But the very 
 same reasons which make it impossible for the King to 
 secure a Cabinet which will take the responsibility of 
 advising him to do wrong also induce the Cabinet to 
 give advice correctly corresponding with what they 
 believe the wish of the country to be. In proportion 
 as a Minister does this he is said to be successful or 
 the reverse ; and as all Ministers try their utmost to 
 act in accordance with the wishes of the country, that 
 they may the longer retain power, the official acts of the
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 39 
 
 Sovereign are as nearly as possible the exact expression 
 of the will of the people ; so we may fairly say that 
 when the King acts it is the people themselves who act. 
 
 CHAPTER VI.— PARLIAMENT. 
 
 Parliament, technically speaking, consists of the King, 
 the House of Lords, and the House of Commons, but the 
 word " Parliament " is commonly used to represent the 
 House of Lords and the House of Commons, and we shall 
 use the words in that sense, especially as it has come to 
 us from the French word parlement , discourse, and is 
 commonly understood by us to describe a deliberative 
 assembly. 
 
 It will have been gathered from the foregoing chapters 
 that though the whole authority of the Sovereign and 
 all the powers necessary to govern the country are 
 exercised through the Cabinet, who, with the less promi- 
 nent members of the Government, form the Executive, 
 yet the supreme power of control is held by Parliament. 
 How this has come to pass forms the most interesting 
 portion of the history of our country. 
 
 In the time of the Anglo-Saxons the ruling authority the witen» 
 was the Witenagemot, or assembly of the wise men agemot. 
 by whose advice and concurrence the Anglo-Saxon Kings 
 made laws and imposed taxes. It was composed of 
 the Earls or Aldermen of the counties, and the prelates 
 and abbots. It is believed the lesser thanes were excluded 
 from the Witenagemot but that the King's thanes had 
 some part in it. To what extent, and at what period 
 they joined with the nobles and clergy in the Council of 
 the King is uncertain, but when so sitting, they 
 resembled both of our Houses of Parliament assembled 
 together. The ceorls were altogether excluded.
 
 40 
 
 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 ANGLO- 
 SAXON- 
 KINGS 
 ELECTED. 
 
 Being unable to read or write, and possessing scarcely 
 any knowledge beyond that of husbandry and the use of 
 weapons of war, it cannot be held that the common 
 people of the land in these times were fit to take part 
 in the making of laws. Even if they had possessed 
 anything beyond their labour requiring the protection of 
 the State, they did not have the knowledge necessary to 
 enable them to discriminate between good and bad 
 measures. This is sufficiently proved by their super- 
 stitious belief in the trial by ordeal. We cannot, 
 therefore, blame those who withheld political power 
 from them, because it is a mistake to suppose that any 
 person, simply because he is a man, is fit to form an 
 opinion upon affairs of State, or even to express an 
 opinion as to who is fit. Much study and experience 
 are necessary for the purpose ; even the wisest states- 
 men sometimes commit errors of judgment, and it 
 cannot but happen that those who are quite ignorant of 
 statesmanship should similarly fail. It would be as 
 wise to entrust the navigation of a vessel to a man who 
 had never seen the sea, or heard of a ship, as to give an 
 utterly ignorant person power to influence the Govern- 
 ment of the State. 
 
 Still, as will have been seen, the Constitution of the 
 country was not an unlimited Monarchy, even at this 
 early period of our history. The true heir to a deceased 
 King ^vas often set aside, and in all cases the accession 
 to the Throne was settled by the Witenagemot, 
 without whose consent the King had no power to make 
 laws or treaties, to issue edicts, or le\'y taxes. There 
 were besides parties constitutionally opposed to the King 
 in the person of the clergy and the nobles, whose 
 decrees were sometimes at variance with his, and as the 
 more worthy of the Commons sought to obtain a share 
 in the control of affairs, the King at one time, and the 
 nobles at another, sought to win their favour by offering 
 or conferring privileges. 
 
 The mode of Government prevailing under the Anglo- 
 Saxon Kings was continued after the Norman Conquest 
 with little variation for many years, and gradually 
 assumed a definite form. As the Barons held the land 
 from the King by virtue of service, and as the cultivators
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 41 
 
 of the soil held their smaller divisions of land by virtue 
 of like service to the Barons, the whole country was 
 kept in subjection by a unity of interest on the part of 
 the Barons and the King and a thoroughly well-defined 
 system of government was established. Although much 
 heartburning arose among the Anglo-Saxons at the 
 oppressive measures adopted by William L, yet the 
 country was systematically united as it never had been 
 before ; and although at first the controlling power was ^j^g 
 strong, a few years sufficed to produce diversity of ba-RONS. 
 interests among the Barons, and circumstances soon 
 arose which led them to place themselves in opposition 
 to the King. Having complete control over the many 
 vassals in their baronry, they became formidable 
 opponents to William, who deemed it advisable, as a 
 measure of protection, to conciliate the English. He 
 did so by conferring upon them some of their old 
 privileges, and thus he deprived the Barons of their 
 exclusive influence over the people resident within their 
 baronies. 
 
 In this way a Baron, although a powerful support to 
 the King while he remained faithful to him, ceased to 
 be as powerful when he turned against the King, 
 because he was not as sure of carrying his vassals with 
 him as formerly. So the system of control was main- 
 tained, while the disposition of the Barons to revolt was 
 checked. 
 
 The most important feature of this struggle was the 
 even balance that was maintained among the several 
 elements of the Commonvv^ealth. The fact that the 
 King went to the people for assistance against the 
 Barons, and that the people looked to the Barons for 
 protection from the King, is the key to our present 
 liberties and the very foundation of our present constitu- 
 tional Government. 
 
 The custom of summoning the nobles to the great 
 Council, as in the Anglo-Saxon times, was maintained 
 by William I., and the methods of administering the 
 law and settling disputes which had grown up previous 
 to his accession were continued in theory and ultimately 
 survived in practice. There is a distinction, however, 
 between merely giving counsel and effectively controlling
 
 42 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 a policy, and it was not until the reign of Richard I. 
 that the Barons acquired a thoroughly constitutional 
 position in the State. 
 
 The King, on leaving for the Crusades, commissioned 
 his Chancellor, William Longchamp, joint regent and 
 justiciary, with the Bishop of Durham ; but Longchamp, 
 by excluding his co-adjutor from any share in the 
 administration, provoked the nobles, who, with John, 
 afterwards King John, at their head removed him from 
 his office, and passed upon him sentence of banishment. 
 This was a remarkable assumption of power by the 
 Barons, and the earliest authority for a leading principle 
 of our constitution, the responsibility of ministers to 
 Parliament. 
 THE GREAT I" ^^^ course of the next reign, that of King John 
 CHARTER, himself, occurred one of the most important events in 
 our history : the granting of the Great Charter of 
 Liberties. It is singular that John, who led the Barons 
 in their first protest against the abuse of Royal authority, 
 should himself have been the subject of the first protest 
 on the part of the Barons against the King himself. So 
 famous is this event that King John is scarcely 
 remembered on account of anything other than the 
 triumph of the Barons and his tyrannous exactions 
 which led to it. The leaders in this great constitutional 
 victory were Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 and William, Earl of Pembroke, of whose work it has 
 been said that if every law passed since the passing of 
 the Great Charter were swept away, there would still 
 remain the bold features that distinguish a limited from 
 a despotic monarchy. 
 
 Magna Charta restricted the sums to be paid by 
 vassals to their lords, and enacted that justice should 
 neither be sold, denied, nor delayed, and that none should 
 be imprisoned or exiled but by the lawful judgment of 
 his peers. Other clauses prescribed that chattels 
 necessary to a man's station, such as the arms of a 
 gentleman, the merchandise of a trader, and the plough 
 of a peasant, should be exempt from seizure. 
 
 The acquisition of power by the Barons was naturally 
 followed by concessions to the Commons. As the 
 authority of the new Estate grew it became necessary to
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 
 
 43 
 
 check its ambition by enlarging the power of its 
 competitor, but two hundred years elapsed from the 
 time of the Conquest before the Commons were 
 recognized as a body entitled to share in the government 
 of the kingdom. There is some reason to suppose that 
 representatives of the Commons were summoned to 
 Parliament as early as the fifteenth year of the reign of 
 John, but it is not at all certain that they were elected, 
 and it is more probable they were nominated by the 
 Sheriff, in response to the command of the King. In 
 the year 1264, however, when Henry III. was held 
 prisoner, after the battle of Lewes, by Simon de Montfort, 
 Earl of Leicester, and brother-in-law of the King, writs, 
 bearing date the 12th December, were issued by 
 de Montfort, directing the Sheriffs, in the King's name, 
 to return two knights for their county and two burgesses 
 for every city and borough contained in it. This is 
 always regarded as the foundation of the House of 
 Commons, for by whatever means the knights and 
 burgesses w^ere elected, however restricted the con- 
 stituency which returned them, and whatever the 
 motives of Simon de Montfort in calling them together, 
 the principle of the representation of the Commons was, 
 for the first time, distinctly established and applied 
 throughout the kingdom. 
 
 The Commons, however, were not represented in the 
 Parliaments immediately succeeding this epoch, and' 
 some years elapsed before a complete representation of 
 the counties and cities was summoned by the King. It 
 is interesting to notice that the Scotch are supposed to- 
 have been before the English in this matter, for it is 
 stated " that as early as 1211, the burgesses (in Scotland)- 
 gave suit and presence in the great council of the 
 King's vassals." 
 
 The Commons were, in the first instance, callec? 
 together simply that subsidies might be granted to the 
 Crown. They were, however, not long in taking 
 advantage of their being assembled together to consult 
 as to their condition, and see in what way they could 
 improve it. Accordingly, although they voted money 
 without much remonstrance during the reign of Edward I., 
 his son was attacked by them systematically. In the 
 
 D 
 
 FIRST 
 REPRESEN- 
 TATION 
 OF THE 
 COMMONS.
 
 44 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 second year of the reign of Edward II., that is, in the 
 year 1309, money was voted on " condition that the 
 King should take advice and grant redress upon certain 
 REDRESS OF articles wherein they are aggrieved." " The good 
 GRIEVANCES, people of the kingdom," says the remonstrance, " who 
 are come hither to Parliament, pray our Lord the King 
 that he will, if it please him, have regard to his poor 
 subjects, who are much aggrieved by reason that they 
 are not governed as they should be ; especially as to 
 the articles of the Great Charter ; and for this, if it 
 please him, they pray remedy. Besides which they pray 
 their Lord the King to hear what has long aggrieved 
 his people, and still does so from day to day, on the 
 part of those who call themselves his officers, and to 
 amend it, if he pleases." 
 
 The grievances, it was said, were, that the King's 
 purveyors seize great quantities of victuals without 
 payment ; that new customs are set on wine, cloth and 
 other imports ; that the current coin is not as good as 
 formerly ; that the steward and marshal enlarge their 
 jurisdiction beyond measure to the oppression of the 
 people ; that the Commons find none to receive petitions 
 addressed to the Council ; that the collectors of the 
 King's dues in towns and at fairs take more than is 
 lawful ; that men are delayed in their civil suits by 
 writs of protection ; that felons escape punishment by 
 procuring charters of pardon ; that the constables of the 
 King's castles take cognizance of common pleas ; and 
 that the King's escheators oust men of lands held by good 
 title, under a pretence of an inquest of their office. 
 These grievances the King promised to redress, except 
 in regard to the augmented customs on imports, 
 respecting which he gave a conditional promise. They, 
 however, do not appear to have been redressed, for they 
 are repeated in subsequent petitions, coupled with 
 -complaints of tallages being exacted, without the 
 •consent of Parliament, and of arbitrary imprisonment 
 contrary to the law. Remonstrances were continued 
 from time to time with more or less effect, and in the 
 succeeding reign of Edward III., three essential 
 principles, which now regulate our present Government, 
 became established. They were the illegality of raising
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 45 
 
 money without consent ; the necessity that the Commons, 
 as well as the Lords, should concur in any alteration of 
 the law ; and the right of the Commons to inquire into 
 public abuses, and to impeach the King's councillors. 
 
 At this time there seems to have been no rule as to no regular 
 which towns should send members to Parliament, and repre- 
 there was great irregularity in the mode of summoning, sentatioi«(. 
 the method of return and the number assembled. 
 Improper returns were often made by the Sheriff, who, 
 being subjected to Court or Baronial influence, sometimes 
 omitted to send the writs to particular towns. As the 
 writ of the Sheriff did not specify the town whence 
 members were to be returned, but required him merely 
 to send up representatives from all the cities and 
 boroughs in his county, it was comparatively easy for 
 him to omit any town whose former representatives had 
 made themselves obnoxious to himself or the Sovereign. 
 
 A similar absence of rule is noticeable in the early 
 composition of the House of Lords. Commoners of 
 distinction were often summoned to one Parliament and 
 omitted from the next. The names of such Commoners 
 appear upon the rolls of Parliament without any 
 Baronial title, yet it appears they voted and took part 
 in the work of legislation. 
 
 A still more singular deviation from present custom 
 was of frequent occurrence. Some burgesses regarded 
 the exercise of the franchise as a hardship and petitioned 
 to be excused from sending members to Parliament, 
 because representation entailed expense, for at that time 
 members were paid by those who returned them to 
 Parliament. 
 
 The knights, citizens and burgesses representing the 
 Commons at first had no legislative powers ; they 
 simply voted money to the King, and gave advice to 
 the Lords touching measures relating to trade and 
 shipping. When the consent of the Commons was first 
 deemed necessary to a change in the law, cannot be very 
 certainly determined. This, like all other elements of 
 our present constitution, was matter of growth. At 
 first they simply gave advice when the King's councillors 
 sought it ; next they petitioned for such amendment of 
 the law as they thought necessary ; then their petitions
 
 46 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 gradually assumed the form of Bills, which being agreed 
 to among themselves, were afterwards submitted to the 
 Lords that they might be pressed upon the attention of 
 the King. From these practices the transition to our 
 present methods of Parliamentary procedure was natural, 
 if, indeed, the two are not identical in principle. The 
 practice of the King applying to the Commons for 
 subsidies, and his councillors asking the Commons for 
 advice concerning measures affecting their interests and 
 the trade of the country, corresponds very closely with 
 the present custom of Ministers applying to the 
 Commons for supply, and of the Lords sending Bills to 
 the Commons for their consideration. 
 
 In more recent times the changes in the Constitution 
 of the several branches of the Legislature have been 
 definitely marked, and the rights and privileges of each 
 are now defined ; but as we examine the present 
 constitution of the two chambers we shall see how little 
 they differ in principle from the Parliaments of the 
 thirteenth century. 
 COMPOSI- The House of Lords is composed of the nobility of the 
 TiON OF THE land, who are called Peers, or equals, and of the 
 HOUSE OF Archbishops and Bishops of England. The Peers are 
 LORDS. styled Lords Temporal, and the Archbishops and 
 Bishops, Lords Spiritual. The Peers are divided into 
 four classes, each of which holds a position in relation 
 to Parliament different from that of the others. The 
 first class is composed of Peers who sit in their own 
 right, either as heirs to the dignity of the Peerage, or 
 by virtue of having been created Peers by the Crown. 
 The second class consists of sixteen Scotch Lords, 
 elected by the Peers of Scotland, to represent them 
 during the Parliament then called ; and the third class 
 of twenty-eight Irish Lords, elected by the Peers of 
 Ireland, to represent them for life in successive 
 Parliaments. The fourth are life Peers. By an Act of 
 the year 1876, three Lords of Appeal in Ordinary were 
 constituted by Statute as Barons for life, with the right 
 of sitting and voting as long as they continue in office. 
 
 This distinction between the different Peers arises 
 from the changes which have occurred from time to time 
 in the relations existing between England, Ireland and
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 47 
 
 Scotland. In former times, when the three portions of 
 the United Kingdom each had its Parliament, the Peers 
 of Scotland and Ireland sat in their own Houses of Lords, 
 and when the Union was negotiated, an arrangement repre- 
 was come to by which the Peers of Scotland and the sentative 
 Peers of Ireland should be represented in the Parliament peers. 
 of the United Kingdom. It was accordingly agreed 
 that the Scotch Peers should elect sixteen of their number 
 for each Parliament, and only for the Parliament ; and 
 when the Union with Ireland was negotiated, it was 
 settled that the Peers of Ireland should elect twenty- 
 eight of their number to represent them for life. 
 
 The same cause has given rise to a distinction 
 between Peers who sit by right of their peerages. There 
 are Peers of England who hold peerages created by the 
 Crown before the year 1707, the date of the Union 
 between England and Scotland ; Peers of Great Britain, 
 who represented peerages created between the years 
 1707 and 1800, when Ireland was united to Great 
 Britain ; and Peers of the United Kingdom, who sit 
 in right of peerages created since the year 1800. 
 
 There are yet further distinctions which should be 
 drawn between Peers in their relation to Parliament. 
 Several Scotch and Irish Peers have succeeded to 
 peerages, or have been created Peers, with the right to 
 sit in Parliament ; and although they are commonly 
 known by their Scotch or Irish title, they are not elected 
 Peers, but sit in their own right as Peers of the Realm. 
 The Duke of Argyll, for instance, formerly sat as Baron 
 Sundridge, and the Earl of Longford sits as Lord 
 Silchester in the peerage of the United Kingdom. 
 
 The question whether Scotch Peers could sit in the 
 Commons representing constituencies of commoners has 
 never yet been raised. Some Scotch Peers contend that 
 their order does not do so because they do not wish to 
 do^anything which may be construed into an admission 
 that they, being Peers, are rightfully excluded from the 
 House of Lords in their own proper person. 
 
 Those Peers of Ireland who are not chosen to represent IRISH 
 their body in Parliament may offer themselves as peers. 
 candidates^to represent English or Scotch constituencies, 
 but^not Irish, in the House of Commons. There is one
 
 48 
 
 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 other difference between the peerage of Ireland and 
 Scotland : Peers of Scotland are no longer created, so 
 that in time the distinction between Scotch Peers and 
 Peers of the United Kingdom may die out ; and the 
 unsettled point above alluded to will die with it ; but 
 for every three peerages of Ireland that become extinct, 
 the Act of Union entitles the Crown to create one new 
 peerage, and when the number of Irish Peers is reduced 
 to loo, one new peerage may be created for every one 
 that becomes extinct. 
 OF The Peers take precedence as Dukes, Marquises, Earls, 
 Viscounts, and Barons. The title of Lord is common to 
 all. But, although all Peers may be addressed by the 
 title of "Lord," it must not be supposed that all persons 
 who are styled " Lord " are Peers of Parliament, because 
 the eldest sons of Dukes, Marquises and Earls sometimes 
 bear by courtesy the inferior title conferred upon or 
 inherited by their fathers, and are commonly known as 
 Marquises, Earls, or Viscounts. For instance, the eldest 
 son of the Duke of Buckingham is commonly styled the 
 Marquis of Chandos. The younger sons of Dukes and 
 Marquises, also, are styled by courtesy Lord John, or 
 Lord Henry, as the case may be. But these titles confer 
 no Parliamentary privileges, and those who bear them 
 are commoners in the eye of the law, as are all subjects 
 of the Crown, save Peers only. 
 THE The Archbishops and Bishops of the Established 
 
 BISHOPS. Church of England and Wales sit and vote as Barons by 
 virtue of their office as Spiritual Peers, with the 
 exception of the Bishop of Sodor and Man, the last 
 Bishop appointed, and those appointed to sees recently 
 created by Act of Parliament. If, however, the last 
 Bishop appointed, of the old creations, should be the 
 Bishop of London, Durham, or Winchester, he takes his 
 seat at once, and the Prelate last appointed before him 
 continues to be excluded until a vacancy occurs in one 
 of the other sees. The Archbishops of Canterbury and 
 York are also excepted from this rule. The Bishop^of 
 Sodor and Man may sit in the House of Lords, but may 
 not vote. 
 
 Peers who sit in Parliament by their own right, that 
 is, the Peers of England, Great Britain and the United
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 49 
 
 Kingdom, take their seats on the assembling of 
 Parliament as a matter of course, although in olden 
 times they had no right to sit and vote in Parliament 
 unless summoned by the writ of the Crown. The right 
 of the Bishops to sit in the House of Peers is more 
 obscure, but custom has sanctioned the title of English 
 Bishops appointed to ancient sees to sit and vote in the 
 House of Lords without question. Bishops, however, 
 are regarded as Peers in no other respect. Not being 
 *' Ennobled in blood " they cannot, as Peers, claim to 
 be tried by a jury of the House of Lords on being 
 charged with any breach of the law. They, however, 
 claim to sit on the trial of others until it comes to a 
 question of the loss of life or limb, when they ask leave 
 to withdraw in compliance with the canons of the 
 Church, which forbid them to vote "in cases of blood." 
 
 The number of Peers composing the House of Lords 
 is not fixed ; it amounts to about 540, but is liable to 
 decrease by the death of Peers without heirs, and 
 increase by the creation of new Peers. Peers who are 
 minors or imbecile or bankrupt do not sit in the House 
 of Lords. In former times, the Kings of England 
 conferred the dignity of the peerage upon subjects as 
 often from caprice or favouritism as from any other 
 cause, but now the dignity is conferred by the Sovereign 
 on the advice of the Ministers of the Crown, and 
 is generally bestowed upon men who have done 
 distinguished service to the State, either as politicians, 
 men of letters, or lawyers, in scientific research or in 
 commerce, or as great military or naval commanders. 
 The House of Lords is thus composed of the most 
 distinguished men in the country, or the descendants of 
 those who, in their day, had made themselves famous, 
 by rendering distinguished service to the State. 
 
 The Lord Chancellor, who is, as w^e have seen, a speaker op 
 member of the Government, presides over the House of "^^^ house 
 Lords, and when acting in this capacity he is styled the of lords. 
 Speaker of the House of Lords. It is not necessary that 
 he should be a Peer, but he is usually created a Peer on 
 his appointment, and being so he has the right to join 
 in debate and to vote in the same way as any other 
 Peer, but he has no casting vote when upon a division
 
 5° 
 
 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 the numbers are found to be equal. When the House 
 is sitting upon ordinary occasions, the Lord Chancellor 
 takes his place upon the Woolsack, wearing a full- 
 bottom wig and a plain black oilk gown. 
 THE The Woolsack may be described as a large ottoman, 
 
 WOOLSACK, stuffed with wool. It is supposed that this was the kind 
 of seat used by the president of the most ancient 
 councils held in England, and that it was so used in 
 order to remind the people of the importance of 
 cultivating wool as an article of merchandise. This 
 seat is not, technically speaking, in the House, so that 
 when the Lord Chancellor, being a Peer, wishes to 
 exercise his right to address the House, irrespective of 
 his position as Lord Chancellor, he advances three steps 
 forward. He puts all questions to the House upon which 
 a vote has to be taken, but it is no part of his duty to 
 keep order or control in the House, because the Peers do 
 not acknowledge that anyone of their number is superior 
 to the rest : they are all Peers or equals. 
 
 CHAIRMAN There is a Deputy Speaker in the House of Lords, who 
 OF COM- is also Chairman of Committees. He takes the place of 
 MiTTEES. the Lord Chancellor whenever the latter is absent, and 
 if both are absent, any Peer may be nominated President 
 for the time being, but it is customary for a few Peers 
 to be nominated at the commencement of the session for 
 this purpose. The title of " Speaker " comes from the 
 fact that one of the duties of the Lord Chancellor as 
 President of the House of Lords is to represent it and 
 speak for it when it desires to address the Sovereign or 
 any other person or persons. 
 
 BLACK ROD. There are several other officials connected with the 
 House of Lords, the duties of whose offices will become 
 more clear when we come to describe the Parliament 
 in the actual conduct of business. In the first place, 
 there is the Gentleman Usher of Black Rod, and his 
 deputy the Yeoman Usher of Black Rod. These officers 
 are the servants of the Crown appointed by the Sovereign 
 to wait upon the House of Lords. When officiating 
 they appear in Court dress and carry a black rod bearing 
 upon its top a golden lion seated. Black Rod controls 
 the approaches and galleries of the House, and the 
 messengers and doorkeepers are directed by him. The
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 
 
 51 
 
 Sergeant-at-Arms is in like manner appointed by the sergeant- 
 Sovereign to wait upon the House of Lords. He stands at-arms. 
 behind the Lord Chancellor when the House is sitting, 
 and carries the mace before him as he enters and leaves 
 the House. The great seal is carried after the Lord 
 Chancellor by the Deputy Sergeant-at-Arms, and both 
 the mace and the great seal are placed upon the. Wool- 
 sack while the House sits. 
 
 There are also three clerks appointed to sit at the the clerk 
 table of the House. The chief is the Clerk of Parliaments, of parlia- 
 who calls on the business ; the second is his Deputy, ments. 
 who makes a record of what business is transacted ; 
 and the third is the Reading Clerk and Clerk of Private 
 Committees, who reads all documents required to be 
 read in the House. The Clerk of Parliaments is also 
 the medium of communication between the two Houses 
 of Parliament. 
 
 The House of Commons is composed of the representa- the 
 tives of the third estate of the realm, the Commons, commons, 
 chosen according to law. It numbers 670 members, 
 271 of whom represent cities and boroughs, 13 groups of 
 boroughs, 9 universities, and 377 counties. England 
 and Wales send 495, Scotland 72, and Ireland 103. 
 These members are chiefly composed of country gentle- 
 men, members of the learned professions, and successful 
 merchants and manufacturers who, either by their 
 personal talents, social position, or wealth, have been 
 able to inspire the electors of some portion of the country 
 with confidence. There are a few^ representatives of the 
 labouring classes who are maintained by those whose 
 interests they are supposed to represent. Many of the 
 niembers are the sons and heirs of Peers, and some are 
 Peers of Ireland who have been returned by English 
 constituencies. The Marquis of Hartington, now Duke 
 of Devonshire, was an instance of the former ; the 
 late Lord Palmerston was an instance of the 
 latter. Unlike the House of Lords, the House of 
 Commons consists entirely of these elected members. 
 No one has a seat by prescriptive right, and none 
 but those elected are allowed to enter the chamber 
 on any pretext whatever, except a few appointed 
 officers.
 
 52 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 SUMMONING The summoning of Parliament, which includes calling 
 OF PARLiA- together those having seats in the House of Lords, as 
 MENT. well as those who have been elected to represent the 
 Commons, depends upon a resolution come to by The 
 Cabinet. Let us suppose that there is no House of 
 Commons in existence, and that The Cabinet resolve to 
 advise the Crown to call Parliament together. The 
 King immediately holds a Council, which is attended 
 probably by two or three of The Cabinet, and an order 
 is made by the King directing the Lord Chancellor to 
 issue writs for the election of representatives to serve in 
 the House of Commons. This is done forthwith. The 
 writ names the day and place of meeting, and directs 
 the returning officer in every city, borough and county 
 in the kingdom to make arrangements for the election 
 of representatives to serve in the Commons' House of 
 Parliament. The returning officer in counties is generally 
 the Sheriff of the county, and in cities and boroughs, 
 the Mayor. 
 
 Upon receipt of the Lord Chancellor's writ, the 
 returning officer issues a notice, fixing a day upon which 
 the electors shall nominate their representative, and if 
 upon that daj' more candidates are nominated than are 
 required, the returning officer fixes a day upon w^hich a 
 poll of the electors shall be taken. Upon that day every 
 elector who chooses attends at one of the places 
 appointed, which are called " polling places," and there 
 records his vote for the candidate he desires should 
 represent him. In due time the returning officer adds 
 up the number of votes polled by each candidate, and 
 declares those having the largest number to be 
 elected. 
 
 In most cases where the candidates outnumber the 
 seats possessed by a borough or county, a number of 
 canvassers go from house to house asking the electors to 
 vote for the candidate they support, and urging reasons 
 for doing so. Electors should not require this ; they 
 should make themselves acquainted with the qualifica- 
 tions of candidates without being canvassed, not only 
 because the practice of canvassing leads to much 
 unnecessary trouble, but because it tempts the un- 
 educated elector to regard his power to vote as a piece
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 
 
 53 
 
 AND 
 BRIBERY. 
 
 of property, which may be sold, rather than as Imposing 
 a duty to be discharged. 
 
 Some electors, although they would refuse a bribe canvassing 
 in money for their vote, often seek to obtain some 
 advantage to themselves or their friends in exchange 
 for it. Promises of personal advantage, however, are 
 as much bribes as payment in money, and equally 
 dishonourable and contrary to the law, and those who 
 are influenced in voting by motives of gain of any sort 
 show themselves to be enemies to their country and 
 undeserving of good government. So, also, those who 
 seek to influence voters by improper means, by promises 
 of advancement, or by threats of harm in the future, and 
 those who use any means to hinder electors from voting 
 freely, all do grievous harm to the country. Laws have 
 accordingly been made from time to time to punish 
 those who misconduct themselves in this way, and on 
 each occasion the law has been amended the punishment 
 has been made more severe. 
 
 Each elector should regard the vote he possesses as a 
 trust, and remember that in voting he is bound to 
 discharge that trust for the public good, that, in fact, he 
 is as responsible to the country for the motives which 
 influence him in giving his vote as any member of 
 Parliament or any vote he may give in the House of 
 Commons itself. 
 
 Formerly, nomination of candidates was made in 
 public meeting, where the returning officer took a show 
 of hands in which non-electors could participate ; but 
 the disorder attending this form of nomination led to its 
 abolition in 1872, when nomination was made a matter 
 of business to be transacted quietly by a few persons in 
 a room, from which were excluded all electors beyond 
 the number necessary to propose the candidates. Up to 
 1872, it had been the custom for electors to declare 
 openly at the polling-place for whom they voted, and 
 for official and non-official records of the voting to be 
 taken ; but in that year open voting at Parliamentary 
 elections was abolished, and votes are now taken by 
 ballot, so that no one but a voter may know, inde- 
 pendently of his voluntary declaration, how he 
 voted. 
 
 NOMINA- 
 TION.
 
 54 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 THE BALLOT. It should be stated that, although as a rule the ballot 
 is strictly secret, yet a record is taken of the vote of each 
 candidate, and in the event of a scrutiny of the votes it 
 can be demonstrated how each person voted. The 
 process of discovery is easy, because the voting paper 
 and its counterfoil are each stamped with a number, 
 and the counterfoil, bearing the same number as the 
 ballot paper, is inscribed with the name of the elector 
 or his number on the register, so as to ensure that no 
 more ballot papers are issued than there are electors. 
 But although the way in which an elector has 
 voted is discoverable, the examination of the ballot 
 papers for this purpose is never allowed except by an 
 order of the Court enquiring into an alleged corrupt 
 election following upon a petition to Parliament for 
 the purpose. 
 
 DiSQUALiFi- Formerly, it was necessary that a man should possess 
 CATION. 3, certain amount of property to qualify him to sit in 
 Parliament, but now anyone may be a member of the 
 House of Commons who can induce a constituency to 
 return him, except an alien, a minor, one mentally 
 imbecile, a peer, a clergyman of the Established Churches 
 of England and Scotland, or a Priest of the Roman 
 Catholic Church, a Judge of the Superior Courts and 
 the County Courts, a government contractor other than 
 a loan contractor, a bankrupt, and persons attainted 
 of treason or felony, who are as dead in law. Up to the 
 time of the passing of the Judicature Act in 1873, the 
 Master of the Rolls alone among Judges of the Superior 
 Courts could sit in the House of Commons ; but the 
 holder of this office is now disqualified. Elected members 
 who may be found guilty of felony after election, or 
 who may have fled from justice, or be found guilty of 
 conduct unbecoming the character of an officer and a 
 gentleman, may be expelled from the House of Commons 
 by vote. But inasmuch as attendance at the sittings of 
 the House of Commons occupies a great deal of time, 
 few who have to earn their livelihood can afford to 
 accept the position, because members of the House of 
 Commons do not receive any pay whatever from the 
 State for any service they may render as members of 
 Parliament either by sitting and voting in the House or
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 55 
 
 by sitting on Committees. Still the position is much 
 coveted because of the social distinction it carries with 
 it, and the influence in the State which it confers. The 
 position also carries with it its peculiar temptations. 
 The votes of members of the House of Commons are 
 often anxiously solicited in respect of certain measures 
 called '* private bills," which are promoted by persons 
 who hope to benefit by them. Such persons would be 
 not unwilling to give money for a vote if they thought 
 such a bribe would be accepted, and on this account it 
 is held to be inexpedient that men of small means 
 should to any great extent be induced to enter the 
 House of Commons. Certainly, if we only think of 
 what is desirable we should all agree that every member 
 of Parliament should be a paragon of honour, be perfectly 
 secure from the influence of all baser motives, and never 
 give a vote in favour of any measure unless he believes 
 it will confer good upon the country. 
 
 Not only has the property qualification of members of reform 
 Parliament been abolished, but changes have been made bills. 
 from time to time in the descriptions of persons who 
 are entitled to vote for members of Parliament, 
 commonly called the electoral qualification, in the 
 number and character of the places represented, 
 commonly called the constituencies, and in the number 
 of members each constituency should return. These 
 changes constitute what is called the reform of 
 Parliament, and are embodied in Reform Bills. 
 
 The necessity for these reforms arises out of changes 
 which are daily occurring throughout the country. 
 Places which were once small villages, having no right 
 to return a member, gradually grow into large towns ; 
 and large towns having that right lose their importance 
 from some cause or another, and decrease in population. 
 When this is found to be the case, the right to return 
 the members is transferred from the decaying town to 
 the flourishing community. 
 
 The right to return members of Parliament and the 
 number of those members is generally determined by 
 population, but although for the sake of convenience 
 members are always retvirned from particular places, it 
 should always be remembered that a properly constituted
 
 56 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 House represents all the classes of the community, and 
 indeed, the object of all reforms is to secure the 
 representation of all classes. Just as the House of Lords 
 represents the aristocracy and the clergy through the 
 Peers and the Bishops, so the House of Commons should 
 represent landowners, merchants, shipowners, manu- 
 facturers, la\vyers, doctors and members of other learned 
 professions, shopkeepers, mechanics and day labourers. 
 The lower classes are, however, always more or less 
 imperfectly represented, because, although the poor 
 have votes and have power to withhold those votes from 
 the sitting member at a future election should he displease 
 them, the knowledge of this is not always sufficient to 
 overrule the influence upon the member's mind of the 
 class to which he himself belongs. And as the majority 
 of the members of the House of Commons are wealthy, 
 they have a tendency to side with the wealthy when- 
 ever the question at issue is a question of the rich as 
 against the poor. This has given rise to the reproach 
 that our Government, even in its most popular form, 
 is a plutocracy, or a Government composed of the rich. 
 The only way in which this can be corrected, and as, 
 indeed, it is continually being corrected, is for the 
 people to make themselves acquainted with their rights, 
 to watch the proceedings of Parliament, to call their 
 respective representatives to account from time to time, 
 and in all other respects to exercise the powers conferred 
 by the franchise. This matter is wholly in the hands of 
 the electors themselves, and if every elector throughout 
 the kingdom were to do this, and to vote for the man 
 whom he believes in his heart will best serve his 
 country, without regard to any other consideration 
 whatever, either of hope of reward or fear of incurring 
 displeasure, there would be no fear of legislation for the 
 benefit of one class at the expense of another.
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 57 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE ASSEMBLING OF PARLIAMENT. 
 
 At the time appointed for the assembling of 
 Parliament, certain Peers, generally numbering five, and 
 including the Lord Chancellor, and some others associated 
 with the Government, being Privy Councillors, appear 
 in the House of Lords as Lords Commissioners. They 
 "wear the robes proper to their rank, and sit covered. 
 The Lord Chancellor wears a three-cornered hat such 
 as judges wear on State occasions, and the three other 
 Commissioners wear cocked hats. They take their places 
 on a form placed between the Throne and the Woolsack, 
 and, so seated, represent the Sovereign. Perhaps there 
 may be some other Peers present, but as the proceedings 
 of the day are somewhat formal they would be few. 
 Such as are present sit in the House itself, and not being 
 there as Lords Commissioners they do not wear their 
 robes. The Commissioners having taken their seats, 
 the Lord Chancellor orders the Gentleman Usher of the 
 Black Rod to summon the Commons to the Bar of the 
 House of Lords. Black Rod goes upon his errand, and 
 in the meantime the Lords Commissioners sit in silence. 
 
 In the case of a new Parliament the Commons are 
 discovered by Black Rod without a Speaker, conversing 
 with one another, without regard to the ordinary rules 
 of the House, because, at this time, the House has not 
 been fully constituted. In the first place, they have no 
 Speaker or President, and they have no power to proceed 
 to business until they have leave to do so from the 
 Sovereign. 
 
 But, although there is no Speaker on the assembling 
 of a new Parliament, the officers are there, because they 
 are appointed by the Crown. Chief among these is the 
 Clerk to the House of Commons, who is appointed by 
 letters patent, and with him his two deputies. They 
 
 WHEN 
 OPENED BY 
 ROYAL COM- 
 MISSION.
 
 58 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 sit in a row at the table, in front of the Speaker's chair ; 
 and at the other end of the House, by the bar, sits the 
 Sergeant-at-Arms, also appointed by the Crown specially 
 to wait on the House of Commons. He has also two 
 deputies, and a number of assistants. 
 
 It is the duty of the Clerk of the House to administer 
 the oath to each member of the House upon his first 
 presenting himself after election, whether in the case of 
 a new Parliament, or in the case of a casual election, 
 to fill a vacancy ; and in order that he may be properly 
 informed as to who has been returned, the very first act 
 done upon the assembling of a new Parliament is for 
 the Clerk of the Crown in Chancery to deliver to the 
 Clerk of the House of Commons a book containing the 
 names of those returned. As soon as this is done 
 neither the Lord Chancellor, nor the Sovereign, have 
 anything to do with the composition of the House of 
 Commons, except by direction of the House itself. From 
 that moment it conducts its own affairs. The Crown 
 has called it into being, and can dissolve it, but cannot 
 interfere with its deliberations while Parliament is 
 sitting. 
 
 The Sergeant-at-Arms is the officer who enforces the 
 penalties imposed by the House on those of its own 
 members who disobey it, or of citizens who offend it. 
 He has to apprehend and keep in custody all persons 
 committed by the House. He has to keep order, 
 either by his own interference, or that of his subordinates, 
 in the galleries, and the arrangements connected with 
 the lobbies and approaches to the House are carried out 
 under his direction. Either he or his deputy remains in 
 the House throughout the sitting. ;,. 
 
 On arriving at the House of Commons, Black Rod 
 informs the Clerk that the Commissioners desire the 
 attendance of the Commons at the bar of the House of 
 Lords to hear the Commission read. The members, 
 accompanied by the Clerk, immediately go to the House 
 of Lords, and upon their arrival, the Lord Chancellor 
 informs them that as it was not convenient for the 
 Sovereign to attend the House in person, he and others 
 had been commissioned to act in His Majesty's stead. 
 The Lord Chancellor then directs the Reading Clerk of
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 59 
 
 the House of Lords to read the Commission, which 
 proves to be a very voluminous document en^jrossed on 
 vellum. It has attached to it the great seal and bears the 
 sign manual of the Sovereign ; it appoints the five Peers 
 who form the Commission, and several others who do 
 not happen to attend, always including the Archbishop 
 of Canterbury, and Princes of the Blood Royal, being 
 Peers, to act in behalf of the Sovereign in the matters 
 named in the Commission, and prescribes particularly 
 what powers the Commissioners are to exercise As 
 soon as the Commission has been read, the Lord 
 Chancellor addresses the Commons in these words : — 
 
 " His Majesty will, as soon as the members of both 
 Houses shall be sworn, declare the causes of his calling 
 this Parliament ; and it being necessary a Speaker of 
 the House of Commons should be chosen first, we have 
 it in command from His Majesty, that you, Gentlemen 
 of the House of Commons, repair to the place where you 
 are to sit, and then proceed to the appointment of some 
 proper person to be your Speaker, and that you present 
 such person whom you shall choose here to-morrow (at 
 an hour stated, which would probably be two o'clock), 
 for His Majesty's royal approbation." 
 This ceremony being ended, the Commons return to their 
 own Chamber.
 
 6o 
 
 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 THE 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 SPEAKER AND HIS OFFICE. 
 
 ELECTION 
 
 OF 
 SPEAKER. 
 
 DUTIES 
 
 OF THE 
 
 SPEAKER. 
 
 It is customary before the actual election of the Speaker 
 for the Prime Minister to take counsel with other promi- 
 nent members of the House, as to the most desirable 
 member for the office, and to arrange the programme 
 of his nomination. The arrangement come to is privately 
 communicated to the Clerk, who, sitting in his usual 
 place in front of the Chair, points to the member who is 
 about to nominate the Speaker, and in this way calls 
 upon him to address the House, without mentioning his 
 name. The member rises and formally moves that 
 
 Mr. be chosen Speaker, and he prefaces his 
 
 motion by stating the qualification his nominee possesses 
 for the office. The motion being seconded, it is put to 
 the House by the Clerk, and is usually carried 
 unanimously. The Speaker-Elect then acknowledges 
 the honour done him, and is conducted to the chair by 
 his mover and seconder. Upon taking his seat the 
 Sergeant-at-Arms approaches the table of the House, 
 and places the mace upon the table, an act which 
 signifies that the House is " made." But the Speaker 
 is not yet fully appointed, for his election must be 
 approved by the Crown. 
 
 The duties of the Speaker are varied and onerous. 
 He is the spokesman of the House of Commons in 
 all its dealings with others. He has to manage in the 
 name of the House when counsel, witnesses or prisoners 
 appear at the bar ; to reprimand those who have 
 incurred the displeasure of the House, and to offer 
 the thanks of the House to those whom it may desire so 
 to distinguish. When witnesses are wanted he summons 
 them and can compel their attendance. Whenever a 
 vacancy occurs, the Speaker, in accordance with a 
 resolution of the House, issues the writ for the election 
 of a new member, and when the House is not in session 
 he directs the writs to be issued on his own authority.
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 6i 
 
 When a member of the House of Commons succeeds to 
 a Peerage, for instance, the Speaker obtains cognizance 
 of the vacancy from the Crown Office and orders a writ 
 to be issued as a matter of course ; and on being 
 informed of the death of a member by two others he 
 does the same. His ordinary duty is to preside at the 
 debates of the House of Commons, and regulate them 
 according to the rules of the House. Should a member 
 persevere in breaches of order, the Speaker may " name " 
 him as it is called, a course uniformly followed by the 
 censure of the House. In extreme cases the Speaker 
 may order a member or other person into the custody of 
 the Sergeant-at-Arms, who holds him prisoner until the 
 pleasure of the House be signified. If the House take 
 no action respecting such committals, the prisoner is 
 liberated at the close of the session, for the House has 
 no power to retain anyone in custody after Parliament 
 has been prorogued by the Crown. 
 
 Some of the duties of the Speaker as President of the 
 House of Commons will be more properly described 
 when we come to the proceedings in Parliament, but 
 sufficient has been said here to show that the nature of 
 his duties requires that he should possess many qualities 
 rarely found combined in one man. As controller of 
 the House when in debate, and interpreter of the rules 
 of the House, he must be sound in his judgment and 
 quick in forming an opinion ; he must be patient, and 
 not hold the rein too tightly. As President of the first 
 deliberative assembly in the world, he must maintain the 
 dignity of his position with courtesy ; he must be firm, 
 but not overbearing ; and as it is in the power of the 
 House to review his decisions, he must be above all 
 things accurate and impartial, because a reversal of his 
 ruling by the House would greatly diminish his influence 
 and imperil the decorum of the House itself. 
 
 But the Speaker is not only President of the House of 
 Commons and its mouthpiece ; he also occupies a great 
 constitutional position as the representative of the 
 Commons of the United Kingdom before the King. 
 Armed with the authority of the House of Commons, he 
 can assert the rights of the Commons before the Sovereign 
 and claim the free exercise of their privileges.
 
 62 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 The ceremony of approving the nomination of the 
 Speaker-Elect is signified by the Sovereign in person or by 
 Commission. If by Commission,which is usually the case, 
 the Lords Commssioners take their places in the same way 
 as before described, and send for the Commons as before. 
 In the Commons the Speaker-Elect occupies the chair, 
 attired in a Court dress, and what is known as a bobwig, 
 when the doorkeeper suddenly announces the approach 
 of the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod, by calling 
 with a loud voice, " Black Rod." The doors of the 
 House are immediately closed, as they would be in the 
 face of the Sovereign, if he presented himself during the 
 deliberations of the House. Finding the doors closed, 
 Black Rod knocks thrice, and upon the Sergeant-at- 
 Arms opening a little wicket in the door, he states that 
 he has a message from the Sovereign, or the Royal 
 Commissioners, as the case may be. He is then 
 admitted, and advances, bowing three times, amid the 
 silence of the members, to the table of the House. 
 Holding up his rod of office, he states that he has come 
 in obedience to the commands of the Sovereign to request 
 " the attendance of this Honourable House in the 
 House of Peers." Upon this the Speaker-Elect rises and 
 proceeds to the bar of the House of Lords, accompanied 
 by such members as happen to be present and choose to 
 go. Arrived there, he and the Commons hear the 
 Commission read, endowing the Commissioners with 
 the Royal authority, and then he addresses the Lords 
 Commissioners as follows: — 
 
 " In obedience to His Majesty's commands. His 
 Majesty's faithful Commons, in the exercise of their 
 undoubted right and privilege, have proceeded to the 
 election of a Speaker, and, as the object of their choice, 
 he now presents himself at your bar, and submitshimself 
 with all humility to His Majesty's gracious approbation." 
 In reply the Lord Chancellor assures him that His Majesty 
 most fully approves and confirms him as Speaker; 
 whereupon he lays "claim, on behalf of the Commons, 
 by humble petition to His Majesty, to all their ancient 
 and undoubted rights and privileges." These being 
 confirmed, the Speaker retires from the bar of the House 
 of Lords, and returns to the House of Commons.
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 63 
 
 CHAPTER IX.— PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT. 
 
 Perhaps three or four days may elapse after the swearing 
 assembling of Parliament before it has authority from in. 
 
 the Crown to proceed to the despatch of business. This 
 interval is occupied by the ceremony of each member 
 taking the oath and inscribing his name upon the roll of 
 members. In the House of Lords, the Lord Chancellor 
 is the first to write his name upon the roll, and in the 
 House of Commons the Speaker. Formerly this oath 
 w-as of such a character that Jews and others could not 
 conscientiously subscribe to it, but within the last few 
 years it has been made more simple and amounts to a 
 promise to maintain the Constitution. This oath is 
 taken by Peers and by every member of the House of 
 Commons before he can vote except in the case of the 
 election of Speaker. Upon the assembling of a new 
 Parliament as many as twenty members take the oath at 
 one time, but when Parliament is in session a new member 
 is conducted to the table between two other members, 
 that he may be the better known to the House, and he 
 bows as they go up. New Peers also are introduced by 
 two others, all three wearing their robes. 
 
 Upon the day appointed for the Sovereign to announce the king's 
 the causes for calling the Parliament together, most of speech, 
 the members of both Houses have probably taken the 
 oath and subscribed their names upon the roll, and 
 the Sovereign's appearance in the House of Lords to 
 give authority to Parliament to proceed to business may 
 be taken as the actual beginning of the session. The 
 Sovereign may deliver the speech in person or by 
 Commission, and as we have described the ceremony of 
 the King appearing by Commission, and in that manner 
 communicating with Parliament, it will be well now to 
 describe this, the more important ceremony, as being 
 conducted by the Sovereign in person. 
 
 It seldom happens that the King appears more than 
 once in a session in Parliament in person, but Queen
 
 64 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 Anne one year gave authority to the Commons to elect 
 a Speaker, approved in person the choice made, and 
 attended a third time in person to deliver the Speech. 
 
 When the Sovereign enters the House, the Peers rise 
 in a body, and remain standing until desired by His 
 Majesty to sit. The King sits upon the Throne at the 
 upper end of the House, crowned and robed, with 
 members of the Royal Family appropriately disposed in 
 the neighbourhood of the Throne. The great Officers of 
 the Household who have to do with ceremonies, and 
 other Ministers of the Crown, also, have their places. 
 The Peers, wearing their robes and coronets, sit in the 
 order of their rank : the Dukes in the front, then the 
 Marquises, then the Earls, then the Viscounts, and lastly, 
 the Barons, The Bishops, if they attend, wear their 
 baronial robes instead of their gowns, as they invariably 
 do upon ordinary occasions. Peeresses, in full dress, sit 
 on the back benches, and the galleries are filled wdth 
 ladies. The space round about the bar, which is at 
 the end of the House, opposite the Throne, is kept clear 
 for the Commons. As soon as everyone is disposed in 
 his proper place, the King commands the Gentleman 
 Usher of the Black Rod, through the Lord Great 
 Chamberlain, to let the Commons know, " It is His 
 Majesty's pleasure they attend him immediately in this 
 House." The Usher of the Black Rod goes upon his 
 errand and upon being admitted to the House of 
 Commons, he approaches the table and says : — 
 
 " Mr. Speaker, the King commands this Honourable 
 House to attend His Majesty in the House of Peers." 
 
 On withdrawing, he walks backwards, bowing as he 
 goes, nor does he turn his back upon the House until he 
 reaches the bar, where he awaits the approach of the 
 Speaker. The Speaker, in his passage from the House 
 of Commons to the House of Lords, which, in the 
 present Palace at Westminster, is a straight line from 
 door to door, across the central lobby of the building, 
 is preceded by the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod, 
 and by the Sergeant-at-Arms of the House of Commons, 
 bearing the Mace. The leader of the House and its 
 principal members generally follow next in the rear of 
 the Speaker's train-bearer, but this is only by courtesy,
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 65 
 
 for there is a rule by which it is ordered that members 
 proceed after the Speaker in ranks of four, according to 
 the order in which their names are drawn from a glass. 
 This rule, however, is seldom carried out, and the 
 members generally proceed in ranks of four-a-breast, as 
 they happen to fall in. The Speaker takes his place at 
 the bar, with Black Rod on one side and the Sergeant- 
 at-Arms on the other, and the members crowded round 
 about him ; and when they have taken up their places, 
 the Lord Chancellor, kneeling on one knee, hands the 
 Royal Speech, which has been prepared in the Cabinet, 
 to the Sovereign. On some occasions the Lord 
 Chancellor has read the Speech, notwithstanding the 
 Sovereign has been present ; but this is not often the case. 
 
 The Royal Speech generally recites the relations sub- 
 sisting between this and foreign countries, the necessities 
 of the State as regards money, and the measures the 
 Ministers propose to submit for the consideration of 
 Parliament. As soon as it has been read, the Sovereign 
 retires, and the two Houses may proceed to business. 
 Generally speaking, however, the Lords adjourn for a 
 few hours, and the Commons, upon retiring to their 
 House, do the same. 
 
 Both Houses re-assemble at the usual time, the 
 Commons at three, and the Lords at four, each in their 
 respective Chamber, without reference to the other. 
 They meet to discuss the Royal Speech, and to 
 prepare an Address in reply, but before this is done, it 
 is the practice of both Houses to read some Bill a first 
 time, in order to assert their right to deliberate without 
 reference to the immediate cause of their being summoned 
 as described in the King's Speech. After this has been 
 done in the House of Commons, the Speaker reports that 
 he has attended, in obedience to a summons from the 
 Sovereign, at the bar of the House of Lords, where the 
 King inade a Speech ; and he adds that for greater 
 accuracy he has obtained a copy of the Speech, which 
 he thereupon proceeds to read. 
 
 The Royal Speech is then taken into consideration by 
 the House, and an Address in reply, which, in substance 
 is usually a repetition of the Speech itself, is moved and 
 seconded by two supporters of the Government.
 
 66 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 Although this reply is addressed to the Crown, and 
 refers only to the Speech, the discussion upon it is the 
 occasion of a general review of the proceedings of the 
 Ministers of State during the interval between the last 
 occasion upon which Parliament was in session, 
 commonly known as the recess. If the acts of the 
 Ministers, during the time Parliament has not been 
 sitting, are approved by the people as represented in 
 the House of Commons, the Address in reply, as far as 
 that House is concerned, is adopted in the form proposed 
 by the Government's supporters. If, on the other hand, 
 those acts are disapproved, an amendment is moved 
 against the Government. This amendment would come 
 from what is called the Opposition, which is chiefly 
 composed of the supporters of those who at some 
 previous time have acted as Ministers of the Crown, and 
 who uniformily hold opinions radically different from 
 those acted upon by the Government then in office. The 
 amendment would be called a Motion of Want of 
 Confidence, and, if carried, all the Ministers would 
 resign their offices into the hands of the Sovereign for 
 the reasons already described in the chapter on " The 
 Responsibility of Ministers." 
 
 Precisely the same order of business is followed in the 
 House of Lords, but the result is not necessarily the same 
 in both cases. Indeed, it often happens that resolutions 
 directly contrary are come to and, in such an event, it 
 becomes the duty of the Government to consider w^hich 
 resolution most accurately represents the feeling of the 
 country, and to act upon that without reference to the 
 other. 
 
 As early as possible after the Address in reply to the 
 Royal Speech has been agreed on, members of the 
 Government introduce the several measures they wish to 
 submit for the consideration of Parliament, which have 
 been referred to in the Speech from the Throne. For 
 instance, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, who 
 may happen to be a member of the House of Lords, 
 will, perhaps, submit a measure in that House for making 
 some alteration in the Government of Jamaica ; the 
 Secretary of State for India, also a Peer, probably, may 
 propose some measure for the better government of
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 67 
 
 India ; and the Lord Chancellor may submit a Bill 
 for thebetter administration of the law. In the Commons 
 the Home Secretary may propose a change in the laws 
 relating to the building of houses, or the employment 
 of children in factories; the President of the Board of 
 Trade may recommend an alteration in the laws 
 relating to shipping ; and the President of the Local 
 Government Board may propose a change in the Poor 
 Law. 
 
 Every measure must be read a first, a second, and a 
 third time in both Houses, and be considered in 
 accordance with certain fixed rules, and as a description 
 of the course adopted with regard to one Bill will give 
 an idea of the process through which every Bill has to 
 pass, we will take the Home Secretary's Bill as an 
 example. 
 
 In the first place then, the Home Secretary, being a introduc- 
 member of the House of Commons, would be called ing A bill. 
 upon by the Speaker in the order in which his name 
 appears on the " Orders of the day," or programme of 
 the day's proceedings, and he will rise in his place and 
 move for leave to introduce a Bill for the amendment of 
 the law relating to the employment of women and young 
 persons in factories. Perhaps he would explain the 
 object of the Bill, and he might also describe the more 
 important of its provisions ; but this is not always done, 
 and, generally speaking, leave is given to introduce 
 the Bill without comment. In cases, however, where 
 the Bill is of great importance, all its provisions, as well 
 as the object sought to be attained by it, are elaborately 
 explained to the House on its introduction. 
 
 The motion for leave to introduce the Bill having introduc- 
 been agreed to without a division, for it is seldom the tign of a 
 House refuses this, the Home Secretary, at the close of bill. 
 the sitting, appears at the bar of the House, holding 
 the Bill in his hand. Upon being called on by the Speaker, 
 he announces that he has "a Bill," whereupon the 
 Speaker orders it to be brought in, and, on its title 
 being read by the Clerk at the table, the question that 
 it be read a first time is formally put from the Chair, 
 and this motion is generally agreed to without either 
 comment or division.
 
 68 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 SECOND In the course of a week or two, or as soon as an 
 
 READING, opportunity can be secured, the Home Secretary will 
 move that the Bill be read a second time. At this stage 
 the House considers the principle of the Bill, without 
 much regard to its details ; and in all cases, when the 
 House reads a Bill a second time it is understood that 
 it accepts the principle only, without being pledged to 
 any of its clauses. Accordingly, upon this motion 
 being made, the members thoroughly discuss the 
 principle involved ; every member has a right to 
 express his opinion upon the principle, and to give his 
 reasons for that opinion ; he may also suggest alteration 
 in the Bill, although no one can speak more than once, 
 except the mover of the original motion, who has the 
 right to reply to all that has been said in argument 
 against his proposal. 
 READ THIS If any member objects to the principle of the Bill 
 DAY SIX altogether, he may move that it be read a second time 
 MONTHS, upon that day six months, which is equivalent to moving 
 its rejection, because, when that day six months arrives, 
 the House will probably have been prorogued. Let us 
 suppose that this amendment is moved by a member 
 who thinks that further interference with factories is 
 undesirable. The discussion will then be continued 
 upon that question, and if many wish to speak upon it, 
 the debate may be adjourned until the next sitting, and 
 the next sitting, and the next, and be continued for as 
 many nights in succession as may seem desirable to the 
 House. 
 
 Up to recent times the House had no ruling limiting 
 the length of any debate, the number of speakers, or the 
 length of their speeches. All this was left to the 
 members' sense of propriety alone, and although it 
 sometimes happened upon occasions which excited 
 great interest in the country, that disputes arose as to 
 whether a debate should be prolonged or not; andalthough 
 they were sometimes prolonged to unnecessary length, 
 the freedom accorded as a rule was very good, because 
 it could then never be said that any question had been 
 decided without the representatives of the nation having 
 had opportunity for discussing it fully, if they choose to 
 do so.
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 
 
 69 
 
 It has happened, however, within recent years that 
 this agreeable freedom could not be continued on account 
 of its being abused by some members who were desirous 
 of preventing the House of Commons doing any business 
 whatever unless it enacted some one particular thing 
 which the minority desired and the majority refused. 
 The power given by this freedom to a minority was used 
 to extend the sittings of the House throughout the night 
 until "obstruction " as it is now called, became a 
 national scandal. New rules were accordingly made 
 forbidding the carrying on of opposed business after 
 midnight, unless by the special resolution of the House, 
 and also for enabling the House to resolve that the 
 question under consideration be determined by a division 
 without permitting any further discussion upon it. This 
 is called the Closure, and whenever it is moved the 
 division upon it is taken without debate, but it can never 
 be put to the House unless the Speaker is of opinion 
 that the debate has been carried beyond reasonable limits, 
 and in practice the Speaker has frequently declined to 
 put the motion. It must be remembered, however, 
 that "the twelve o'clock rule" "the closure " and 
 other similar practices recently introduced into the 
 procedure of the House of Commons, form no permanent 
 part of the Constitution of the country, and are m.erely 
 " orders " made by the House for the session. They 
 may be varied or cancelled at any time upon the motion 
 of any mem.ber, and are from time to time increased 
 in rigour, or altogether suspended when occasion, in 
 the opinion of the majority of the members, requires it. 
 
 In putting a question to the House, the Speaker 
 proceeds in accordance with certain well-established 
 rules, which enable the House to express its opinion 
 upon almost every conceivable aspect of a question. 
 The Speaker first of all says, " The original motion was, 
 ' That this Bill be now read a second time,' since which 
 it has been moved, that we leave out all the words 
 after the word ' That,' in order to insert these words : 
 ' the Bill be read a second time this day six months.' 
 The question I have to put," continues the Speaker, " is 
 that the words proposed to be left out stand part of the 
 question." In this the Speaker goes no further than to 
 
 THE 
 CLOSURE. 
 
 TUTTING 
 
 THE 
 
 QUESTION.
 
 70 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 ask the House in what form the question shall be put 
 to it. Having put the question, " That the words 
 proposed to be left out stand part of the question," the 
 Speaker adds : "As many as are of that opinion say 
 ' Aye.' " Immediately all the members who are of 
 that opinion shout "Aye." The Speaker, still standing, 
 then says, " As many as are of the contrary opinion say 
 ' No,' " and immediately all those of the contrary 
 opinion shout " No." 
 
 Generally speaking, the volume of sound comprised in 
 the uttering of one hundred Noes is greater than the 
 volume of sound comprised in the uttering of one hundred 
 Ayes, because " No" is a syllable more easily pronounced. 
 The Speaker, making due allowance for this, will 
 estimate which sounded the greater number, and having 
 made up his mind, will give his decision in these 
 words : " I think the Ayes have it," or "I think the 
 Noes have it," as the case may be. If the sounds 
 appear to him to be equal, and he cannot make up his 
 mind which prevails, he may put the question again, 
 but this is seldom done. Upon announcing his decision, 
 which, let us suppose, is in favour of the "Ayes," any 
 member who has said "No " to the question, may 
 challenge that decision by calling out, " I think the 
 Noes have it." If the Speaker think it is not intended 
 to divide upon the question, he may say again, " I think 
 the Ayes have it," but any opposing member may 
 repeat, " I think the Noes have it," and upon this the 
 Speaker would say " Strangers must withdraw." 
 
 Immediately these words are uttered, the Clerk at the 
 table turns a sand-glass, which runs out in two minutes ; 
 the Sergeant-at-Arms opens wide the doors of the House ; 
 and every person, not a member, who may happen to be 
 in the lobby, outside the door, is ordered to withdraw ; 
 bells are set ringing by means of electricity, in every 
 part of that half of the building in which the House of 
 Commons is situated, so that no matter where a member 
 may be, as long as he is in the building, he is informed 
 that a division has been called, and that if he should 
 desire to take part in it, he must immediately hasten to 
 the House. He will have no difficulty in doing this, 
 for all the approaches to the door of the Chamber are
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 71 
 
 kept clear by the police when the division bell rings, 
 and if, as sometimes happens, the division is called when 
 very few members are in the House, the chamber will be 
 quickly cro\vded by members from the dining-room, 
 the library, the committee-rooms perhaps, or any of the 
 numerous offices connected with the House. 
 
 As soon as the sands have run out of the glass, the 
 Speaker cries, " Order, order," and the Sergeant -at- Arms 
 closes the door and locks it so that none can enter or 
 leave the chamber until the division is over. The 
 Speaker then puts the question again and finally. The 
 same form is observed for putting the question at this 
 time as before the sand-glass was turned, except that 
 upon the Speaker's decision being challenged, he cries, 
 " The Ayes to the right and the Noes to the left. 
 Tellers for the Ayes Mr. A. and Mr, B. ; tellers for the tellers. 
 Noes Mr. X and Mr. Y." The tellers are usually the 
 two junior Lords of the Treasury on the part of the 
 Government, or " Ayes," and the mover and seconder 
 of the amendment on the part of the " Noes." 
 
 All those who called " Aye " then pass by the 
 Speaker's chair on his right hand, and go into a lobby 
 at the side of the House ; the " Noes " walk to the other 
 end of the House, and passing out by the bar turn to 
 the left and go into the opposite lobby. When they 
 have all passed in, and the House is pronounced clear, 
 the doors of the lobbies are locked, so that none can 
 return to the House without passing through the lobby. 
 The " Ayes " therefore, who entered the lobby by the 
 Speaker's chair, re-enter the House by the bar, and the 
 " Noes " who entered the lobby by the bar, re-enter 
 the House by the Speaker's chair. 
 
 In their passage through the lobby they come to a 
 desk by which only one member can pass at a time, and 
 at this desk stands a clerk with a list of the members' 
 names before him ranged alphabetically. As each 
 member passes, the clerk makes a mark against his name, 
 and these names are published with the minutes of 
 proceedings next morning. Having passed the clerk at 
 the desk, the member meets the tellers at the door ; 
 Mr. A. for his own side, and Mr. X. for the opposite side, 
 both of whom count aloud as each member passes into
 
 72 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 the House. As soon as the members have passed out of 
 a lobby, the tellers for that side go to the assistant-clerk 
 at the table and tell him the number. He writes it 
 down upon a piece of paper prepared for the purpose 
 and waits for the tellers upon the other side. Upon 
 their giving him their number, he writes it down in a 
 like manner, and then hands the paper to the chief 
 teller of the side that has won. 
 
 Let us suppose the " Ayes " have won, and that he 
 gives the paper to Mr. A. By this time it is known 
 that the Home Secretary's Bill has been approved by 
 the House, and that it is the wish of the House that the 
 question be put. Mr. A. then holding the paper in his 
 hand, with Mr. B. upon his left and Mr. X. and Mr. Y. 
 standing next Mr. B., advances to the table, and all four 
 having bowed to the chair, Mr. A. announces w^ith a 
 loud voice that " the Ayes to the right were (let us say), 
 one hundred and forty-seven, and the Noes to the left 
 were one hundred and two." The paper is then handed 
 to the Speaker, and the tellers bow and retire ; the 
 Speaker again announces the numbers from the chair, 
 as the tellers had done, and adds, " The Ayes have it." 
 Thus far the House has divided only on the queston, 
 as to whether the original question proposed shall be 
 put or not, and it has decided that the question shall 
 be put, and the Speaker accordingly puts the question, 
 " That the Bill be now read a second time." He adds, 
 *' As many as are of that opinion say Aye ; as many 
 as are of a contrary opinion say No. The Ayes have 
 it," and there being no challenge he repeats, " The 
 Ayes have it." This part of the business is generally 
 conducted in the course of a hubbub of conversation, 
 and few take any notice of it, but it has happened that 
 a second division has been demanded on the actual 
 question instead of permitting it to be taken for granted 
 that the members voting that the question be put are 
 necessarily the same as those who approve of the 
 motion. 
 
 The result of this second declaration is that the Bill 
 is regarded as having been read a second time. In 
 former times the Bill was actually read in the House, 
 but now every member is provided with a copy before
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 73 
 
 the motion is made that it be read a second time, and 
 he is supposed to have made himself acquainted with 
 its contents. The reading of a Bill a second time 
 signifies that the principle is approved by the House. 
 
 If, however, the Noes had prevailed, the Speaker 
 would not put the original question, " That the Bill be 
 now read a second time," because the majority of the 
 House would in that case have said " No " to the 
 proposition that these words p»-oposed to be left out 
 stand part of the question, and " Yes " to the proposal 
 that the amendment be added instead of those original 
 words. The amendment would therefore become a 
 substantive motion, and the Speaker supplying the 
 w^ords of the amendment in the place where the w^ords 
 had been struck out of the original motion, would put 
 the question "That this Bill be read a second time upon 
 this day six months." Generally speaking, this motion 
 would be carried without more discussion, upon the 
 presumption that all who voted " Aye " in the last 
 division would vote " No " in this and vice-versa, and 
 the Bill would be lost for the session. 
 
 Many Bills disposed of in this way are introduced year 
 after year by members who feel convinced they will 
 ultimately prevail ; but they cannot be introduced 
 twice in the same session, nor can any motion be made 
 similar in effect to a motion which has been negatived 
 during the session. The amendment that the Bill be 
 read " upon this day six months " is the amendment 
 which is moved when the Bill is altogether objected to 
 as unnecessary or unwise but there are several less direct 
 ways in which the rejection of a Bill may be brought 
 about. It may happen, and very often does happen, 
 that a member may object to the Bill and yet wish 
 something to be done in the matter with which the Bill 
 deals. In the supposed case here being described he 
 might desire to do something for the good of the 
 children who work in the factories. He might think 
 them very young to work hard all day and very helpless, 
 but might wish to help them in a way different from 
 that proposed by the Bill. In such a case he can stop 
 the passage of the Bill by a motion that instead of 
 reading it a second time, an address should be sent to
 
 74 
 
 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 ROYAL 
 
 COMMISSION. 
 
 THE 
 PREVIOUS 
 QUESTION. 
 
 COMMITTEE. 
 
 the Crown praying that a Royal Commission should be 
 issued to make enquiry upon the subject to see whether 
 any further legislation was necessary, and if so, of 
 what kind it should be. This amendment would be 
 dealt with in precisely the same way as the other. But 
 perhaps a disposition might exist on the part of some 
 members to avoid expressing an opinion on the Bill, 
 and in that case a member might move what is known 
 as " the previous question," which is," That this question 
 be now put." To say " No " to this is tantamount to 
 saying, " I applaud your object and your motive ; but 
 it is best we should not press the point at present." 
 
 The Bill having been read a second time, the next 
 thing would be to consider it in detail, and that is 
 usually done in Committee of the whole House. The 
 motion made by the Home Secretary, who still has 
 charge of the Bill, is " That the Speaker do now leave 
 the chair." This motion may be met by amendment, 
 a debate may be raised upon it and protracted to any 
 length the House may see fit, and the question may be 
 decided by a division in the same way as upon the 
 motion for the second reading. The most common 
 amendment moved is, " That the Speaker do leave the 
 chair upon this day six months," which, of course, 
 means that the House do not go into Committee at 
 all ; and, if carried, the Bill would be lost, although 
 it had been read a second time. 
 
 If the House resolve to go into Committee on the Bill, 
 the Speaker leaves the chair, and the Sergeant-at-Arms 
 places the mace under the table ; the Chairman of 
 Committees sits at the table in the chair usually 
 occupied by the clerk, and the Speaker either sits in the 
 House or retires as he may feel disposed. The Bill is 
 then discussed clause by clause and even word by 
 word. 
 
 The clauses of a Bill are prefaced by a preamble 
 which recites the necessity for legislation upon the 
 subject with which the Bill deals, and as the wording of 
 this preamble generally depends upon the wording of 
 the clauses it is invariably postponed until the whole of 
 the clauses have been settled. Consequently, the first 
 question the Chairman of Committees puts is " That
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 75 
 
 the preamble be postponed." This being agreed to, he 
 calls " Clause i," and any member who objects to it 
 may rise in his place and suggest that some words be 
 left out in order that others may be substituted. The 
 question is discussed and divisions taken in the same 
 way as ordinary motions are disposed of by the House, 
 except that in Committee members may speak any 
 number of times. The speeches, however, are usually 
 short, and except upon any very important occasions 
 proceedings in Committee are made up of conversations. 
 
 Some Bills are disposed of in Committee of the whole 
 House in five minutes ; others occupy several sittings. 
 When a Committee is unable to go through a Bill in 
 the course of a single sitting, it orders the Chairman to 
 report the progress made with it to the Speaker, and to 
 ask leave to sit again. When the Bill has been gone 
 through and settled to the satisfaction of the members, 
 the Chairman reports to the Speaker, and a convenient 
 day is named for the House to consider the measure as 
 amended by the Committee. 
 
 Sometimes it is thought more convenient not to SELECT 
 consider a Bill in Committee of the whole House, but committee. 
 to refer it to a Select Committee. This is usually done 
 in cases where the subject treated of is technical and 
 understood by only a few members, and might very 
 properly be done in the case of a measure dealing with 
 workpeople in factories, A Select Committee is formed 
 of a few members selected from the whole House, who 
 are appointed to assemble in a Committee room during 
 the daytime, and have in certain cases power to send 
 for and exainine \vitnesses upon oath concerning the 
 matters dealt with in the Bill referred to them. They 
 appoint a chairman from among themselves, and 
 conduct their business in all respects in a manner similar 
 to the course adopted in a Committee of the whole 
 House. 
 
 When the report of the Committee which amended 
 the Bill is being considered by the House, the Bill may third 
 be still further amended, after which it is ordered to be reading. 
 read a third time ; but on the motion that it be read a 
 third time it may be again debated at length and 
 opposed in just the same way as upon the motion being
 
 76 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 made that it be read a second time. After it has been 
 read a third time, the motion is made that the Bill do 
 pass, upon which it may be still further amended, if 
 need be, and then, when no further amendments are 
 moved the Bill is passed and transferred to the House 
 of Lords. 
 
 A Peer has no need to ask leave to introduce a Bill 
 to the House of Lords ; he has the right to do so, and 
 when he lays a Bill upon the table it is invariably read 
 a first time without opposition. This Bill, the course 
 of which we are following, might have been introduced 
 in the House of Lords in the first instance, w^here, except 
 in respect of the manner of its introduction, it would 
 follow the same course as in the House of Commons. 
 And the fact that it has come from the House of 
 Commons makes no difference in the mode of treating 
 it. It must be read a first, a second and a third time, 
 and the Peers may reject it altogether or amend it both in 
 Committee and after it has been read a third time. 
 When it has passed through all these stages it is sent 
 back to the House of Commons, if any amendments 
 have been made in it, that those amendments may be 
 considered by the Lower House. 
 CONSIDERA- Upon regaining possession of the Bill, the House of 
 TiON OF Commons can consider it only as regards the amend- 
 AMENDMENTS ments which have been made in it by the House of 
 Lords ; it may decline to accede to the amendments, 
 or it may still further amend them ; but it cannot 
 review the whole Bill. If it should decline to accede 
 to the amendments or any of them, it states its reasons 
 for so doing, or asks for a conference between the two 
 Houses. In the former case the Lords consider the 
 reasons and agree to them or not, as they see fit ; if the 
 latter course is decided on, certain members of both 
 Houses are appointed to confer upon the point, but this 
 latter course has fallen into disuse. The Peers at 
 a conference remain covered while the Commons are 
 required to uncover, and other formalities are observed 
 upon such occasions which are distasteful to members 
 of the Lower House. In cases where the Lords' 
 amendments are amended only, and are not wholly 
 objected to, the Bill goes back to the House of Lords
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 77 
 
 where these fresh amendments only are considered, and so 
 a Bill may go backward and forward many times before it 
 is ultimately agreed on. If no perfect agreement can be 
 come to, if, for instance, the Lords require something in- 
 serted in the Bill which the Commons will not admit, the 
 Bill is lost, and cannot go forward for the Royal Assent. 
 From this it will be seen that a Bill passes through 
 no less than eight ordinary stages in the House of 
 Commons and seven in the House of Lords, and that 
 its progress may be arrested at each of these by any 
 member who chooses to interest himself in the matter, 
 so that if it should not leave the hands of the Legislature 
 perfect it is not from want of opportunity, but rather 
 from want of attention on the part of those who have 
 accepted the office of legislators. 
 
 The peculiarity of the House of Commons is that it 
 is wholly subject to the will of the people ; the 
 peculiarity of the House of Lords is that it is almost 
 wholly independent of the people. If both Houses were 
 subject to the will of the people, that is, if both were 
 elected, they would be both influenced by similar 
 motives ; and anxiety to conciliate the electors might 
 lead to the passing of measures without sufficient 
 consideration. If, on the other hand, the members of 
 both Houses were entirely independent of the people 
 for their position as legislators, they would have too 
 little regard for the wishes of the people, to whom much 
 would be denied that they are justly entitled to. But, 
 although the Lords may be said to be independent of 
 the will of the people for their position as legislators 
 they cannot be said, in these days, to be independent of 
 or insensible to, public opinion. Their exalted position public 
 keeps them constantly in view, and the most trivial opinion. 
 public actions are minutely scanned and openly criticised. 
 In these circumstances it may be said that by the 
 present constitution of Parliament, the just balance is 
 attained, for while, on the one hand, the Commons 
 cannot press measures forward rashly, the Lords, on the 
 other hand, are unable to resist a strong representation 
 of the wishes of the people, as expressed by their 
 representatives in Parliament, and by the people them- 
 selves, in public meeting.
 
 78 
 
 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 LORDS MAY 
 
 VOTE BY 
 
 PROXY. 
 
 PAIRING. 
 
 There are some slight differences in the mode of 
 procedure in the two Houses. Peers can vote by proxy, 
 for instance, and by this means a Peer, who does not 
 attend in the House while the question is being debated, 
 may authorise another to vote in his stead. No Peer, 
 however, can represent more than two other Peers in 
 this way, and a Bishop can hold only a Bishop's proxy. 
 Proxies are not allowed to count on divisions taken in 
 Committee, because no one can foretell upon what point 
 the Committee may divide, and because a vote in 
 Committee should be given upon the basis of the 
 discussion which preceded it. A Peer, in giving a proxy 
 to another, may limit the use of it to a particular 
 question. 
 
 Some suppose that this right of the Lords to vote by 
 proxy has been abolished, but this is not the case. No 
 proxy has been used, however, since a standing order 
 was agreed upon on the 31st of March, i868, prescribing 
 that proxies shall not be called on a division except 
 by special resolution of the House agreed to after two 
 days' notice. 
 
 Although members of the House of Commons cannot 
 vote by proxy, they can pair. This practice is common 
 to both Houses, and amounts to a private arrangement 
 between members of opposite opinions. If a member in 
 favour of a motion desires to be elsewhere when the 
 House divides upon it he may pair with another, who 
 is opposed to the motion, and also desires to be relieved 
 from the obligation to attend. In this way neither side 
 loses a vote, because the one absentee neutralises theother. 
 
 Members returned to the House of Commons are 
 bound, strictly speaking, to attend, nor may they 
 presume to absent themselves from the sittings of the 
 House, without leave. Upon a sufficient reason being 
 given, leave of absence will be granted by a resolution 
 of the House, and among other reasons held to be 
 sufficient may be mentioned attendance at assizes, or 
 illness of a near relation. Sometimes members who 
 have absented themselves, although nominated to serve 
 upon a Committee have been arrested by the Sergeant- 
 at-Arms, upon the warrant of the Speaker, and have 
 been required to apologise before being released.
 
 AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 79 
 
 If the attendance of members should become very lax, 
 or a matter of great importance is about to be discussed, 
 respecting which it is thought proper that every member 
 should bear part of the responsibility of deciding upon 
 it, any member may move for a call of the House. A 
 week or ten days must intervene between the order 
 being made to call the House over and the day upon 
 which the call is made, and upon that day the order is 
 read, and acted on, or not, as the House may choose. 
 The counties are first called, in alphabetical order, and 
 then the boroughs ; the members have to answer as 
 they are called, and if they fail to attend they are 
 summoned by the Speaker. A call of the House, however, 
 is now seldom ordered, because the attendance in 
 Parliament is generally good, and because, although 
 members may be compelled to attend, they cannot 
 be compelled to vote. 
 
 Theoretically, a member of the House of Commons 
 cannot resign his trust ; having been once returned he 
 is bound to serve. If, however, he accepts office under 
 the Crown, he vacates his seat as a matter of course, 
 and when a member desires to retire from serving in 
 the House of Commons, it is customary for him to apply 
 to the Crown for office. His request is always granted, 
 and the office of Stewardship of the Chiltern Hundreds, 
 or of the Manor of Northstead, or of the Escheator of 
 Munster is conferred upon him. These offices have 
 neither duties nor salaries attached to them, and a 
 person appointed usually resigns the post after a week 
 or two, so that it may be at the service of any other 
 who desires to retire from his position as member of the 
 House of Commons. 
 
 When the question is put to the vote by the Lord 
 Chancellor, the Peers do not say " Aye," and " No," 
 as do the Commons, but " Content " and " Not 
 Content." Peers do not address the Lord Chancellor 
 as the members of the Lower House address the 
 Speaker. Peers commence with the words, " My lords," 
 and refer to the House as " Your lordships." Members 
 of the House of Commons, however, always address the 
 Chair, as it is termed, commencing with the words 
 " Mr. Speaker." The House of Lords may transact 
 
 A CALL 
 
 OF THE 
 HOUSE.
 
 8o THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 QUORUM, business when only three Peers are present, nor is it 
 necessary that one of these should be the Lord 
 Chancellor ; but the House of Commons is governed 
 by certain rules which place it in the power of any 
 single member to ensure that business shall not be 
 transacted unless forty members are present. 
 
 These rules are very strictly observed and ensure good 
 attendance. At a quarter of an hour before the time 
 appointed for beginning business, prayers are said by 
 the Speaker's Chaplain. During this ceremony the 
 Speaker sits in the Clerk's chair at the table. If, when 
 prayers are over, there are not forty members present, 
 the Speaker does not take the chair ; and no member is 
 permitted to leave the chamber until a House is made 
 by the attendance of forty members. 
 
 If at the hour appointed for meeting the Speaker 
 counts the members present, and finds they do not 
 number forty, he declares that there is " No House," 
 and the House stands adjourned until the next day. 
 As soon as he finds there are forty present he takes the 
 chair, and the House being made by his doing so, 
 business may be proceeded with. Those present are no 
 longer detained, and it sometimes happens that almost 
 the whole of the forty withdraw immediately the House 
 is made. 
 
 If, during the sitting, there is a very scanty attendanee, 
 a member may call the attention of the Speaker to the 
 fact that forty members are not present, upon which 
 business is immediately suspended, the member who 
 was addressing the House resumes his seat, and the sand 
 glass is turned. Upon the sand having run out, the 
 Speaker rises and counts those present. If he can count 
 forty, including himself, he resumes his seat, and 
 business is proceeded with; if not, he leaves the chair, 
 and the House stands adjourned until the next day upon 
 which the House would ordinarily sit. i-:^ 
 
 Upon a Wednesday the House cannot be counted out 
 after it is once made, no matter how few members may 
 be present, uutil four o'clock, when it may be counted 
 as upon other days. If the attention of the Chairman 
 of Committee is called to the fact that forty members 
 are not present, he cannot proceed with the business, 
 
 COUNT OUT.
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 
 
 8i 
 
 and must send for the Speaker, who would proceed to 
 count in the ordinary way. 
 
 It has happened upon some occasions that a member, 
 vexed that so little interest was felt in the subject upon 
 which he was addressing the House, has complained of 
 the smallness of the attendance ; by so doing he has 
 called the attention of the Speaker to the fact that there 
 was " No House," whereupon the Speaker counted, and 
 finding less than forty members present, left the chair. 
 In this way a member may put an end to his own speech 
 without intending it. Sometimes, too, the House will 
 divide when less than forty members are present, and 
 this will also put an end to the sitting. 
 
 In cases where a member thinks the number of members 
 present, although above forty, is not sufficient to 
 transact business of the importance of that under 
 discussion at the time, he may move the adjournment 
 of the House, or the adjournment of the debate, or if in 
 Committee, he may move that the Chairman report 
 progress or that the Chairman leave the Chair. The 
 effect of this last motion would be to put an end to the 
 Bill. These motions take precedence of all others, and 
 must be disposed of before the business is proceeded 
 with. 
 
 It is a rule of the House that the same motion cannot 
 be made twice in succession, so that it is customary to 
 vary these motions when the object is to tire out those 
 who are pressing forward business at an inopportvme 
 hour ; but the motion that the House do now adjourn 
 may be repeated any number of times in succession, 
 because by the use of the word " now "it is obviously 
 a different motion from that made even a moment 
 before. 
 
 Motions when once made become the property of the 
 House and cannot be withdrawn except by leave of the 
 House. This rule is made so that the House may retain 
 the power of expressing its opinion upon any motion 
 submitted to it, and not allow that to be withdrawn 
 which it wishes to approve or condemn. If, upon any 
 division in the House of Commons the numbers should 
 prove to be equal the Speaker may give a casting vote, 
 he usually gives his vote with the " Noes " on the 
 
 SPEAKER S 
 
 CASTING 
 
 VOTE.
 
 82 
 
 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 PEERS MAY 
 
 RECORD 
 
 PROTEST. 
 
 TAXES. 
 
 principle that it would be better to have the matter 
 reconsidered by the House than that his single vote 
 should affirm a proposition. The Chairman in 
 Committees of the House of Commons also has a casting 
 vote ; but in the House of Lords neither the Lord 
 Chancellor nor the Chairman of Committees is so 
 endowed, and if the numbers are equal, the motion, 
 whatever it may be, is always regarded as lost. 
 
 Peers have the privilege of entering their protest upon 
 the journals of the House against any resolution which 
 may be come to by the majority contrary to their 
 opinion ; and they may state their reasons for protesting. 
 Members of the House of Commons, however, have no 
 such power. 
 
 Peers, who do not wish to vote upon a question, may 
 stand behind the woolsack when the question is put ; they 
 are then not in the House, and may refrain from voting. 
 Members of the House of Commons, however, who do not 
 Avish to vote must leave the House before the question 
 is put a second time, and while the the sand-glass is 
 running, otherwise the doors will be locked, and the 
 orders of the House will require that they pass through 
 one of the division lobbies. 
 
 The Lords do not sit upon Wednesdays as a rule, nor 
 does either House sit upon Saturdays, but on very 
 extraordinary occasions they have been known to sit on 
 Sunday. 
 
 Very little reasoning is necessary to show that a 
 country cannot be governed without cost. To maintain 
 all the officers of State, great and small, the Army and 
 the Navy, and the officers of justice, must cost a great 
 deal of money. It costs no less than ninety million 
 pounds each year ; and it will require little reflection to 
 see that almost the whole cost arises from the fact that 
 people will not do what is right. The Post Office does 
 not cost the Crown anything ; the postmen and 
 telegraph boys are paid out of the fees for carrying 
 letters and telegrams, and a large profit is left from their 
 earnings after they are paid ; but the Army and Navy, 
 the policemen, judges, and jailors cost a very large 
 sum every year ; and the Crown cannot do without 
 them so long as wrong is done. An Army and Navy are
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 
 
 83 
 
 necessary as long as other countries make war on one 
 another, and may make war on us ; a police force is 
 necessary as long as thieves steal and murderers kill ; 
 judges are necessary so long as offenders have to be tried, 
 or disputes have to be settled ; and jails and jailors 
 are necessary as long as there are criminals to be 
 punished. All these institutions are established and 
 maintained for our protection, and we pay for their 
 maintenance by means of taxes. Taxes, indeed, may 
 be regarded as the sum people pay for the protection 
 afforded them by the State. 
 
 As it is the people who pay the taxes, the representa- money 
 lives of the people in the House of Commons reserve to bills. 
 themselves the exclusive right to originate "Money 
 Bills " for taxing the people. The House of Lords 
 sometimes rejects a Money Bill agreed to by the 
 Commons, but never amends such a Bill. If it did so, 
 the Commons would assert their privilege in this matter, 
 and decline to assent to the amendment. So, also, if the 
 House of Lords passed a Bill of its own imposing taxes 
 on the people, the House of Commons would assuredly 
 reject it, no matter how good it was. 
 
 The first step towards taxing the people is made by ES timates 
 the several departments of State presenting their bills in 
 the shape of " Estimates " for the expenditure during 
 the approaching year. Upon the first convenient day 
 after the assembling of Parliament, the Secretary for 
 War, if he should happen to be a member of the House 
 of Commons, and if not, the Under-Secretary for War, 
 may propose that the Speaker leave the chair, in order 
 that the House may go into Committee of Supply to 
 consider the Army Estimates. When in Committee, he 
 makes a statement showing what has been done with 
 respect to the Army during the year that is about to 
 close, and what he proposes to do in the year to come, 
 ho^v many men he requires to keep up the standing 
 Army, how much money he will require for their pay, 
 their clothing, their victualling, their arms and their 
 barracks. At the close of his statement he moves that 
 the number of men he has specified be vote*l for the use 
 of His Majesty, and upon that motion any member is at 
 liberty to speak and criticise his plans and all he has
 
 84 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 said about the Army if he please, and to move an 
 amendment. It is customary, but by no means obli- 
 gatory, to fix the number of men at the close of the 
 discussions, and after that to agree to a motion for their 
 pay. 
 
 Upon another convenient occasion, the First Lord of 
 the Admiralty will bring in his estimate for the year, 
 and he will proceed in the same way as the Secretary of 
 State for War. He will state how much money he 
 wants for the building of ships, how many men he will 
 want to man the Navy, and how much money he will 
 require to pay them. His statement may therefore be 
 subjected to criticism and his proposals to amendment. 
 
 To make these demands upon the public more clear, 
 complete statements are presented to each member of the 
 House of Commons, showing what the money is 
 wanted for in every particular, in the same way as an 
 invoice is presented by a tradesman for goods delivered. 
 These are called the Army Estimates in the one case, 
 and the Navy Estimates in the other. Similar statements 
 are presented, showing what money is required, and how 
 it is proposed to appropriate it for carrying on the 
 Civil Government. These are called the Civil Service 
 Estimates as opposed to the warlike, and include 
 the cost of collecting the taxes, the payment of Judges 
 and Magistrates, the maintenance of prisoners, the 
 contribution made by the State towards educating the 
 people, the payment of local police, the cost of the Post 
 Office and Telegraph Service, and any other expenses 
 incurred by the State other than those incurred in 
 connection with the Army and Navy. 
 THE These estimates of expenditure having all been laid 
 
 before Parliament, the next step is to consider in what 
 manner the money for meeting them shall be provided. 
 The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the Officer of State 
 who makes proposals on this head, and his annual 
 statement, summing up the whole expenditure of the 
 country, and showing what taxes the Government 
 propose to levy, in order to provide the money to meet 
 the proposed expendituie, is called " The Budget." His 
 statement is made in Committee of the whole House, 
 because it has to do with finance, and the Committee 
 
 BUDGET.
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 
 
 85 
 
 in this case is called the Committee of Ways and Means, 
 because it has to consider by what ways and means the 
 money shall be provided. 
 
 In the first place the Chancellor of the Exchequer has 
 to describe how the account stands for the past year, 
 and to show "whether the taxes have yielded as much as 
 was expected. If they have not done so, and if the 
 expenditure has been greater than the amount the taxes 
 have produced, the Chancellor of the Exchequer will 
 have to propose measures for meeting the deficit, as well 
 as the year's expenditure. If, however, the taxes have 
 produced more than is required, the balance remaining, 
 after everything has been paid, does not go to pay for 
 the succeeding year's expenditure, but is used to reduce 
 the National Debt. 
 
 The National Debt is made up of sums borrowed by 
 the State in times past to enable the country to carry 
 on war, and amounts to nearly £700,000,000 sterling. 
 The money is lent by subjects to the State, in sums of 
 jQioo, and for each £100 the lender receives a bond, 
 certifying that the State is indebted to him in that 
 amount, and promising he shall receive so much each 
 year as interest for the loan. Any person may become 
 the possessor of one of these bonds who has the means, 
 for they are bought and sold daily on the exchange, 
 under the name of Consols or Consolidated Stock, and 
 they are much valued on account of their being a very 
 secure investment. As it is impossible to pay off so 
 large a debt quickly, the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
 has each year to provide the money for paying the 
 interest. 
 
 He w^ould next name the cost to which the country 
 would be put on account of Civil charges, which would 
 include the salaries of all Officers of State, and their 
 subordinates, the State contributions to^vards the police, 
 and the maintenance of prisons, the payment of Judges 
 and Magistrates, the grant for education, the sum 
 granted to the Sovereign in lieu of hereditary rights, as 
 described in the chapter on *' The Crown," and 
 the total cost of the Post Office and Telegraphic 
 system. This would, probably, amount to about 
 £11,000,000. 
 
 WAYS AND 
 MEANS. 
 
 NATIONAL 
 DEBT.
 
 86 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 Next, he would state the cost of collecting the taxes, 
 which would amount to about £8,000,000, and then he 
 would remind the Committee that the Secretary of State 
 for War had asked for some £15,000,000 for the Army, 
 and the First Lord of the Admiralty required £13,000,000 
 for the Navy. Altogether, the charges would amount 
 to £100,000,000, which we may look upon as the bill 
 presented by the Sovereign to the people for carrying 
 on the Government of the country, and protecting life 
 and property. 
 
 Having stated the demand, the Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer next states how he proposes to raise the 
 money to meet it. To begin with, he will estimate how 
 much the taxes imposed during the past year would yield 
 if no alterations \vere made in them. Let us suppose 
 that he finds they would yield £103,000,000, even if the 
 country did not increase in prosperity, and no more trade 
 was done in the current year than was done in the year 
 that had passed. This would give him £3,000,000 too 
 much, and he might safely assume that this would be 
 the case, because for many years past the trade done by 
 the United Kingdom has increased year by year, and 
 the revenue of the country, which depends upon trade 
 and the general prosperity of the nation, has also 
 increased. He \vould estimate that he would receive 
 from Customs Duties — that is, from the duties levied 
 on goods, or rather, luxuries, imported into this country 
 — perhaps £22,000,000 ; from Excise Duties — that is, 
 duties levied on certain manufactures, chiefly for the 
 production of luxuries — say £19,000,000 ; from stamps, 
 receipt stamps and bill stamps, and stamps upon legal 
 documents of all kinds, perhaps £20,000,000 ; from 
 taxes — such as Income Tax, assessed according to the 
 amount of a man's income, or the tax for keeping a 
 carriage or a man servant — perhaps £20,000,000 ; from 
 the Post Office — which includes all the money paid for 
 the delivery of letters and the transmission of telegrams 
 — probably £20,000,000 ; and from Crown Lands and 
 other miscellaneous sources, £3,000,000. This would 
 make altogether £103,000,000, and the next thing to be 
 considered would be what should be done with the three 
 million that was not wanted. Perhaps he would
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 
 
 87 
 
 suggest that the Duty on Sugar should be reduced one 
 penny per pound, and that the Duty on Tea should be 
 lessened, and that the Income Tax should be reduced 
 one penny in the pound. By doing this the revenue 
 would yield, say, £2,500,000 less, and that would be a 
 sufficient reduction, because the Postmaster-General 
 might desire to reduce the postage on letters in certain 
 cases, and because some sources of Revenue might not 
 yield as much as was expected. 
 
 At the close of his statement the Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer would move a resolution embodying one 
 part of his proposal, and then it would be competent 
 for any member to criticise his statement and move an 
 amendment to his motion. But, supposing his proposals 
 to be generally approved, they would be agreed to, and 
 afterwards reported to the House ; Bills would be 
 framed to carry them out, and these Bills would be read 
 a first, second and third time in both Houses before they 
 became law. 
 
 Parliament by passing the Money Bill proposed by the 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer, would give the Crown 
 authority to collect the taxes, and to the Lords 
 Commissioners of the Treasury to receive them into the consolida- 
 Imperial Exchequer or Consolidated Fund ; but it y^^ fund. 
 w^ould not authorise the Crown by these bills to 
 appropriate money so collected. The authority to spend 
 the money is given by a totally different process, and 
 not until every member has had full opportunity of 
 discussing and taking exception to every sum asked for. 
 This is done in Committee of Supply, and occupies much 
 time. 
 
 We have already seen that the Minister of War asks committee 
 the House to vote supplies to His Majesty for the of supply. 
 purchase of provisions and stores for the Army, for the 
 building of barracks, for the purchase of clothes, and 
 for the manufacture of arms. His full statement is made 
 at one sitting of the Committee of Supply ; at subsequent 
 sittings every item is gone through, and may be closely 
 enquired into by any member who chooses. Let us 
 suppose he asks for £50,000 for the manufacture of a 
 new rifle. A member asks what sort of rifle this is that 
 he proposes to spend so much money upon. The Minister
 
 88 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 then gives a description of it ; whereupon a member 
 who prefers a different sort of rifle objects to his proposal 
 and opposes the grant. Then a discussion ensues, in 
 which every member is at liberty to join and speak as 
 many times as he chooses upon the merits of the rifles, 
 and, perhaps, others may suggest other descriptions. 
 The discussion may last many hours, and may end in 
 the grant being refused or the consideration of it being 
 postponed. Upon another occasion the First Lord of 
 the Admiralty may ask for supply, and he may ask for 
 a sum of money for building ships. His request may be 
 met by opposition, and a long debate may arise before 
 it is granted, while in other cases large sums may be 
 voted without a word, because no one sees any ground 
 for objecting to them. Perhaps the Postmaster-General 
 may, upon the same evening, ask for some money for 
 the carriage of letters. The Vice-President of the 
 Committee of Council on Education may ask for some 
 portion of the grant for carrying on public elementary 
 schools ; and the Secretary to the Treasury may ask 
 for sums to pay the civil servants. 
 
 When all the sums of money required by the Govern- 
 ment have been discussed and voted or not, as the case 
 may be, the Secretary to the Treasurv brings in a Bill, 
 APPROPRIA- ^^,j^i^,j^ -g called the Appropriation Bill, and in this Bill 
 TiON . .^ -g provided that all the sums which have been voted in 
 
 Committee of Supply shall be appropriatedto the several 
 purposes for which they were voted. This Bill is read a 
 first, second and third time, in the same way as any 
 other Bill, and having been sent up to the House of 
 Lords, it is then passed through the several stages, and 
 goes forward for the Royal Assent. This Bill, when it 
 becomes law, gives authority to the Crown to spend 
 the money collected in the shape of taxes ; and it will 
 not be legal for the Ministers of State to spend the 
 money in any other way. If they do not spend all the 
 money voted upon one account, they may not spend it 
 upon another ; if, for instance, they do not require to 
 spend the £50,000 voted for rifles upon rifles, they may 
 not spend the surplus upon barracks or the building of 
 ships. The money not spent is saved, and must be used 
 for the reduction of the National Debt.
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 89 
 
 But members of the House of Commons have not only 
 the right to object to the expenditure of certain items ; 
 they may oppose the granting of supplies altogether, 
 until all grievances are redressed, and all necessary redress Of 
 measures are passed for the good government of the Grievances 
 people. The rules of the House give the members 
 absolute power in this respect, and frequent opportunity 
 of exercising it, provided their case is good. When a 
 Minister of the Crown moves " that the Speaker do 
 now leave the chair," in order that the House 
 may go into Committee of Supply, any member who 
 chooses may rise in his place and object on the 
 ground that his constituency, or the people generally, 
 are suffering from a wrong, which he thinks the 
 Crown should be made to redress before any money 
 is granted for carrying on the government of the country. 
 This is very often done, and although it seldom happens 
 in these days that supply is absolutely refused, the 
 power of absolute refusal is possessed by the House and 
 may be exercised. Of course no single member could 
 stop the granting of supply by his voice alone ; he 
 must induce a majority of those present at the time to 
 support him on a division, or else he cannot attain his 
 end. Generally speaking, members are content with 
 stating their grievance ; and others withdraw their 
 motions on receiving a promise from a Minister that the 
 matters to which they have called attention will be 
 enquired into. In this way it will be seen the people 
 possess great power over the Crown. No grievance of 
 magnitude could remain unredressed, if supplies were 
 refused as long as it existed ; and although the extreme 
 measure of absolute refusal has not been exercised for 
 many years past, the spirit which might at any time 
 develop into such a position is always at work in 
 Parliament, and, being exercised temperately, uniformily 
 tends to good government. 
 
 Demands for enquiry are very frequent in both Houses ENQUIRY, 
 of Parliament. Sometimes members ask for a Royal 
 Commission ; sometimes for a Select Committee. 
 These two forms of enquiry differ in character, but they 
 differ rather in form than in result. The members of a 
 Royal Commission are nominated by the Crown, and
 
 90 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 are generally composed of those most qualified to form 
 an opinion on the subject to be enquired into, whether 
 they be members of Parliament or not ; a Select 
 Committee is composed of members of that House of 
 Parliament in which the motion for its appointment 
 is made. The appointment of a Select Committee is 
 quite within the powers of either House of Parliament : 
 the Lords may depute some of their number to consider 
 and report upon questions ; the Commons may do the 
 same ; and each may give the Committee so appointed 
 extraordinary powers, to send for witnesses and 
 documents, and compel attendance. The appointment of 
 a Royal Commission is not within the power of either 
 House, The House of Commons may resolve to send 
 an address to the Crown, praying His Majesty to appoint 
 a Royal Commission to enquire into a given subject. 
 The address will in due time be considered by the 
 Cabinet, and, if approved, the Controller of the House- 
 hold, commanded by His Majesty, will appear at the 
 Bar of the House, with a message from the Crown, 
 promising to appoint the Commission. In cases where 
 the address for the appointment of a Commission is 
 agreed on by the Lords, the same course would be 
 adopted, except that the reply would be presented by a 
 member of the Government, being a Peer, probably, 
 the Lord Chamberlain. It seldom happens that a 
 request for the appointment of a Royal Commission is 
 not assented to by the Government, but cases occur in 
 which the Lords may desire an enquiry, and in which 
 the Commons may not. In such case the Government 
 generally advises the Sovereign not to comply with the 
 prayer of the address from the House of Lords, and a 
 reply to that effect is presented in the same way as if it 
 were a favourable reply. 
 
 When a Select Committee of the House of Commons 
 has completed its enquiry, it draws up a report which 
 is presented by its chairman to the Speaker, and when 
 printed, is supplied to every member. It may then be 
 commented upon, and perhaps, form the basis for 
 legislation. The report of a Select Committee of the 
 House of Lords is laid upon the table of the House as 
 a matter of course, and is thereafter treated in the same
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 
 
 9^ 
 
 way as a report presented to the House of Comnions. 
 The report of a Royal Commission, together with the 
 evidence upon which it may be founded, is usually 
 presented by command of His Majesty to both Houses 
 of Parliament, and thereupon becomes fit subject for 
 coinment, and perhaps the basis for legislation in the 
 same way as if the evidence had been taken and the 
 report made by a Select Committee of one or other of 
 the Houses of Parliament. 
 
 Private Bills are measures presented to Parliament, 
 by Municipal bodies, by private persons or companies, 
 who seek powers which the existing law does not give 
 them. If a company desire to construct a railway from 
 London to Edinburgh, they would have no power, under 
 the ordinary laws of the land, to compel the owners of 
 the land over which they desired the line to pass to sell 
 to them as much of the land as they required, and to 
 bargain with each owner in turn would be a hopeless 
 task. They accordingly go to Parliament, and ask for 
 powers to compel these owners to sell the necessary land 
 to them, at a price to be fixed according to certain 
 rules as to compensation, embodied in several Acts of 
 Parliament, known as the " Clauses Consolidation 
 Acts." The powers thus sought and acquired as to 
 land are called " Compulsory Powers." 
 
 The Bill conferring these powers, to which it is 
 proposed to ask Parliament to assent, is lodged in both 
 Houses, before the expiration of a certain day, yearly 
 named in the Standing Orders of both Houses of 
 Parliament, and usually some six weeks before the House 
 actually meets. Immediately after the session begins a 
 petition is presented, praying for leave to introduce the 
 Bill ; and at a meeting of the principal officers of both 
 Houses of Parliament, it is determined, having regard 
 to the amount and nature of the business generally, 
 into which House the particular Bill shall be intro- 
 duced. The Standing Orders relating to private Bills 
 also require that the successive stages of Bills shall be 
 taken at specified intervals, and on payment of stipulated 
 fees, and that notice shall be given, either personally or 
 by public advertisement, to all persons interested in 
 the projected measure. These precautions are taken, 
 
 G 
 
 PRIVATE 
 BILLS.
 
 92 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 first, for the information of Parliament itself, and, 
 secondly, that individuals affected may, if they choose, 
 petition Parliament for leave to be heard against the Bill. 
 
 It is customary to read all private Bills a first time, as 
 a matter of course, if their promoters have complied 
 with the Standing Orders ; and, usually. Bills are read 
 a second time, without discussion, and referred to a 
 Committee elected by the House. This Committee, 
 which generally consists of five members, but sometimes 
 only of four members, or of four members and 
 a referee, sits as a Court, hears evidence for and 
 against the measure, and, having listened to all 
 that can be urged by the promoters or their 
 counsel in favour of the Bill, and all that can be 
 said against it by its opponents or their counsel, makes 
 a report to the House. If favourable, the Bill is ordered 
 to be set down for a third reading, and if read a third 
 time and passed, it goes at once to the other House, 
 and is there dealt with in precisely the same way. The 
 second House is regarded, not as a Court of Appeal, 
 but as an entirely new tribunal, so that a Bill will, 
 probably, be \vell considered before the powers it would 
 confer are granted. In certain cases originating in 
 Scotland the enquiry may be made in Scotland by 
 Commissioners nominated by the Secretary for Scotland, 
 who report their decision to Parliament. 
 COMPULSORY Such Acts as these, authorising the exercise of com- 
 POWERS. pulsory powers, are required not only in the case of 
 railways, but in all cases where the rights of private 
 persons, or the rights of the public would be interfered 
 with by the work it is proposed to carry out. Such 
 undertakings often occasion great inconvenience to 
 a private person, sometimes even to the extent of 
 destroying his house, and taking away his business ; and 
 this person, perhaps, honestly thinks that no payment 
 in money would compensate for the injury done him. 
 Still, if great advantage will accrue to the public from 
 carrying out the proposed work. Parliament holds the 
 convenience of the individual must give way to the 
 good of the many. 
 
 But, though the property is taken, Parliament will 
 not allow the rights of the landowner to be sacrificed,
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 93 
 
 for compensation is always secure to him, and if he 
 can show good grounds for them, special clauses are 
 often inserted in the Acts for his benefit. Generally 
 speaking, we may say that it is the interest of the 
 public, coupled with a due regard for private rights, 
 which guides the Legislature in granting compulsory 
 powers to promoters of private Bills ; and in order that 
 the balance may be held fairly, and that no suspicion 
 may attach to the action or interference of Parliament, 
 all members of either House, whose personal and 
 pecuniary interests, or even the interests of whose 
 constituents are in any way concerned in any such 
 measure, are bound in honour to abstain from 
 influencing the decisions arrived at. 
 
 Provisional Orders are orders made by a department provisional 
 of the State subject to the assent of Parliament. They orders. 
 are in the nature of Private Bills, and give powers to 
 private persons or public bodies to carry out works 
 of public utility. Provisional Orders, for instance, are 
 made by the Board of Trade to empower Harbour 
 Trustees to improve their harbours. These Orders, 
 however, are not framed at the caprice of an official, 
 nor do they always correspond with the wishes of those 
 who seek to obtain them ; they are drawn in strict 
 compliance with an Act of Parliament, after due notice 
 has been given to all persons concerned in them that they 
 will be applied for, and w^hen drawn they are presented 
 to Parliament in the form of a Bill for confirmation. 
 Should this confirmation be withheld, they do not become 
 law, and the powers sought for are not conferred. 
 
 Private persons, affected by a Provisional Order, 
 have the power of petitioning Parliament against its 
 being confirmed, and on their doing so, the Bill 
 proposing to confirm it is treated in all respects as a 
 Private Bill, and must be considered by a Select 
 Committee, so that the interests of private persons are 
 as well protected by the Provisional Order as by the 
 Private Bill system. 
 
 This method of granting Parliamentary powers to 
 private persons is of recent growth, and it is extended 
 from time to time by Parliamentary enactment to other 
 subjects than those originally dealt with. It was
 
 94 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 designed upon the ground that a department of State, 
 such as the Board of Trade, was best able, in all cases 
 affecting trade and commerce, to gather the information 
 necessary to enable Parliament to judge of the propriety 
 of granting the powers asked for. The Provisional 
 Order system was also designed with a view to prevent 
 expense in cases where there was a prospect of little or 
 no opposition. But sometimes when unexpected opposi- 
 tion arises the expense is increased, because not only 
 are there the ordinary charges of promoting a Provisional 
 Order incurred, but they are added to by defending the 
 Provisional Order as if it were a Private Bill. 
 
 Similar Orders, although not styled Provisional 
 Orders, but generally known as minutes or schemes, are 
 laid on the table of both Houses of Parliament by the 
 Education Department of the Privy Council Office, by 
 the Endowed Schools Commissioners, and other public 
 bodies, in accordance with the provisions of the Acts of 
 Parliament regulating their conduct, and these orders 
 have the force of law provided they are not successfully 
 challenged by either House within a certain time 
 specified by the Acts under which they are presented. 
 ROYAL As soon as a Bill has been agreed on by both Houses 
 
 ASSENT, of Parliament, it is laid before the Sovereign by the 
 Lord Chancellor, and the Sovereign assents or not, as 
 the Cabinet may advise. It is long since the Sovereign 
 has put a veto on a Bill, and probably it will be long 
 before the right of veto is again exercised, for this 
 reason, that the Cabinet would not venture to advise the 
 Sovereign to withhold assent from a Bill which it was 
 unable successfully to oppose in its passage through 
 Parliament. If the Cabinet did so venture, it would 
 become liable to a Motion of Want of Confidence in one 
 or perhaps both Houses of Parliament, the consequences 
 of which is fully described in the chapter on " The 
 Responsibility of Ministers." 
 
 The Royal Assent is given either in person or by 
 Commission. If in person, the Sovereign goes to the 
 House in state as upon the opening of Parliament, and 
 is attended by the great officers of the Household. 
 
 When within the precincts of the House, the Sovereign 
 is waited on by the Clerk of the Parliaments, who reads
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 95 
 
 over a list of the Bills which have been agreed on by 
 both Houses, and receives the Royal commands respecting 
 them. The Sovereign then enters the House of Lords, 
 and, seated on the Throne, orders that the Commons 
 may be sent for in the same way as upon the opening 
 of Parliament. 
 
 The Commons having responded to the summons, and 
 such of the Peers being present as may choose to attend, 
 the Deputy Clerk of Parliaments reads the title of the 
 first Bill on the list ; the Clerk of Parliaments thereupon 
 bows to the Sovereign, and turning his head so as to 
 address the Commons at the bar without turning his 
 back upon his Sovereign, he says in old Norman French, 
 " Le Roy le veult,^^ " The King wills it "; or, in the 
 case of a Queen, " La Reyne le veult,'' " The Queen 
 wills it." He then again bows to the Sovereign, and 
 the same form is gone through in respect of every Public 
 Bill upon the list. In the case of a Private Bill, instead 
 of " Le Roy le veult,^^ he says, " Soit fait comnie il est 
 desire,^' or, " Be it done as it is desired." Should the Bill 
 be in the form of an assent to a petition of right, the 
 Clerk would say, " Soit droit fait conime il est desire." 
 " Be this right done as it is desired " ; and in the case 
 of a Bill granting money or supplies to the Sovereign, 
 the Royal Assent would be given in the following words: 
 " Le Roy reinercie ses bon sujets, accepte leur bhievolence, 
 et ainsi le veult," that is to say, " The King thanks his 
 good subjects, accepts their bounty, and so wills it." 
 Should the Royal Assent be withheld, the Clerk would 
 say, " Le Roy s'avisera," or " The King will consider." 
 As soon as the Clerk has signified the Royal pleasure 
 concerning all the Bills presented, the Commons with- 
 draw, and the Speaker, upon taking the chair in his own 
 House, reports what has been done. 
 
 The Sovereign, however, seldom appears in person to 
 give assent to Bills, and is usually represented by a 
 Royal Commission. In such circumstances, the 
 Commission is signed by the Sovereign's own hand, and 
 attested by the Clerk of the Crown in Chancery. It 
 does not differ except in respect of the purpose for 
 which it is issued from other Royal Commissions, and 
 when it has been read by the Reading Clerk in the
 
 96 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 presence of the Commons assembled at the bar, the 
 Lord Chancellor, as principal Commissioner will say : — 
 
 " My Lords and Gentlemen, by the command and by 
 virtue of the powers and authority to us given by the 
 said Commission, we do declare and notify His Majesty's 
 Royal Assent to the Acts in the said Commission 
 mentioned, and the Clerks are required to pass the same 
 in the usual form and words." 
 
 Thereupon, the titles of the Bills being read, the 
 Clerk of Parliaments signifies the Royal Assent in the 
 usual form and words already described. 
 
 The members of the Houses of Parliament, with few 
 exceptions, attach themselves to some party which 
 has a distinct programme, and a well-defined political 
 creed. The chiefs of one of these parties usually form 
 the Government ; the chiefs of the most numerous 
 opposing bodies are known as the leaders of the 
 Opposition. Each acts upon the principle that " Union 
 is strength," and those members who attach themselves 
 to a party usually repress their private judgment, 
 because they think it better that their party, as a whole, 
 should prevail, than that they should give expression to 
 their individual opinion ; or, to put it in other words, 
 because they think their party will govern more 
 wisely and propose better laws, on the whole, than the 
 opposing party. 
 
 There are many members, however, who do not hold 
 themselves amenable to any party or leader ; and do 
 not approve party government. They think it better 
 that a man should exercise his private judgment on all 
 questions, without reference to those who submit to the 
 cfecision of Parliament, and should vote with the 
 Government or the Opposition, just as he may think 
 best for the time. These are known as " Independent 
 Members " ; they form but a very small minority of 
 either House, and, being disunited, they have no power, 
 as a body, and go and swell the numbers of the 
 Government, or the Opposition, for the time being, as 
 the case may be. 
 
 Each party has a complete organisation, and the 
 leaders of each make known their designs and wishes to 
 their followers through the medium of a member selected
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 97 
 
 for the purpose, who is commonly known as " The 
 Whip." The Government Whip in the House of ^HIPS. 
 Commons is usually the Secretary to the Lords 
 Commissioners of the Treasury, and he is also known 
 as the " Patronage Secretary." 
 
 The Opposition Whip is usually that member 
 who occupied the position of Secretary to the 
 Treasury, when the leaders of his party were in office. 
 In the House of Lords the Government Whip usually 
 holds some office in the Sovereign's Household, and the 
 Opposition Whip is usually a Peer who has formerly 
 held such an office under the leaders of his party. 
 
 It is the duty of the Government Whip, whenever 
 Ministers desire to proceed with business, to get together 
 a sufficient number of members to make a House by the 
 time the House should assemble, as prescribed by the 
 Standing Orders, and it is his business to keep together 
 forty members in the neighbourhood of the House as long 
 as the Government needs the House to sit. He has also, 
 upon all occasions when the Government submits 
 questions upon which a difference of opinion exists, to 
 cause such a number of members of his party to attend 
 as will give the Government a majority of votes. The 
 Opposition Whip will, in like manner, bring together as 
 many of his party as he can induce to attend, and each 
 of them will do their utmost to win independent members 
 to his side. 
 
 Those who object to party government condemn the 
 proceedings of the Whips, as being artificial, and think 
 the country would be better governed if members of 
 Parliament voted spontaneously upon the basis of 
 arguments submitted to debate, rather than upon the 
 basis of considerations urged privately by " The 
 Whips." 
 
 Strangers, among whom are included Peers in the strangers. 
 Lower House, and members of the House of Commons 
 in the Upper, as well as the reporters for the newspapers, 
 are allowed to be present in either House, but may be 
 excluded at any time upon a member calling attention 
 to the fact that he " spies strangers in the galleries." 
 Upon his doing so in the House of Commons, a division 
 is taken, and upon the motion being carried, the
 
 98 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 Speaker orders the Sergeant-at-Arms to clear the 
 galleries, and the House thereupon debates in private. 
 
 At one time it was held to be unlawful to print reports 
 REPORT OF of the debates, and some have been imprisoned for doing 
 DEBATES, so, but now members are anxious that their speeches 
 should be reported, that their constituents may be 
 informed of their proceedings. Very often debates are 
 carried on when only a dozen members are present, and 
 when it is obvious that the speeches are made solely 
 that they may be published in the newspapers ; so that 
 although the power of excluding strangers is retained, 
 it is very seldom used, and twenty years have been 
 known to pass by without the right to exclude strangers 
 having been once exercised. 
 
 To procure admission to the strangers' gallery, it is 
 necessary to be furnished with an order from one of 
 the members, each of whom has the right to give one 
 for each sitting. Admission to the Speaker's gallery is 
 secured by presenting an order signed by the Speaker 
 himself ; and ladies are introduced to a gallery set apart 
 for them by members who have precedence one of the 
 other, according as they write their names in a book 
 kept for the purpose. Strangers sitting in the House 
 are obliged to retain their seats ; they may not stand 
 up, nor may they read or write. This rvile does not, of 
 course, apply to reporters for the newspapers, who have 
 a gallery set apart for them, to which no one is admitted 
 unless provided with a card bearing the name of the 
 holder and the journal he represents, signed by the 
 Sergeant-at-Arms. 
 
 Similar rules prevail in the House of Lords with 
 regard to the admission of strangers, except that all such 
 matters are in the Upper House under the control of 
 Black Rod. 
 
 Although the people have a voice in the Legislature 
 only by the act of the Commons choosing representatives 
 to serve in Parliament, there are many ways in which 
 public opinion expresses itself in a less formal manner, 
 and influences legislation. In the first place, every 
 person has the right to petition either House of 
 Parliament, and provided the petition is properly worded, 
 no Peer or member of the House of Commons should
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 99 
 
 decline to present it. It is not necessary that the persons 
 presenting the petition should agree with its prayer, 
 nor be in any way concerned in its object, but it usually 
 happens that petitioners make their appeal through 
 their representative in Parliament, or through some 
 other who they know will sympathise with them. 
 
 Closely allied to this right to petition is the right of 
 public meeting and of free speech, by which public 
 opinion makes itself felt in Parliament ; indeed, 
 petitions generally emanate from public meetings. It is 
 the duty of everyone before signing a petition to make 
 himself thoroughly acquainted with the subject to 
 which the petition relates, and to be convinced that the 
 prayer of the petition, if granted, would result in a 
 benefit to the community. Unless a person can ensure 
 himself upon these points, it is better he should not sign, 
 for by doing so he would be deceiving the Legislature. 
 
 Petitions on being presented are referred to a 
 Committee which examines them, and from time to 
 time presents a report to the House describing the 
 prayer of each petition, whence it comes, and the number 
 of persons who have signed it. If the Committee should 
 have reason to suspect the genuineness of a petition; 
 if, for instance, it suspects some of the signatures to be 
 fictitious, it would cause enquiry to be made on the 
 subject, and if the suspicion of "the Committee proved 
 to be well founded, the House might not only reject the 
 petition, but punish the offenders for contempt. 
 
 Members of the House of Commons, on presenting a 
 petition, cannot do more than state its prayer ; they 
 cannot comment upon the subject to which it refers. 
 Members of the House of Lords, however, are restrained 
 by no such rule, and may make a speech upon presenting 
 a petition ; other Peers may answer them, and a long 
 debate may ensue. 
 
 The people have also the right to petition the Throne. 
 Petitions to the Sovereign, however, are usually 
 presented through the Ministers of the Crown, except in 
 the case of some great corporate bodies, who possess 
 by charter the right of presenting petitions to the 
 Sovereign in person. The Corporations of the cities of 
 London, Edinburgh, and Dublin have the right to present
 
 lOO 
 
 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 either House of 
 representing the 
 
 petitions in person at the bar of 
 
 Parliament. On doing so, those 
 
 Corporation appear in their robes of office before the 
 
 commencement of public business, and state the prayers 
 
 of their petition in the same way as a member would. 
 
 The prorogation of Parliament from session to session, 
 and its dissolution, when occasion arises, rests entirely 
 with the Crown. A Parliament ceases to exist at the 
 end of seven years, as a matter of course, unless 
 previously dissolved ; and the Crown must summon a 
 new Parliament within three years of the dissolution of 
 the last. 
 
 Parliament may be prorogued and dissolved on the 
 same day. It is dissolved by Royal Proclamation, 
 which usually gives orders for the issue of writs calling 
 for a new Parliament. Formerly it was enacted that 
 a Parliament should cease to exist six months after the 
 death of the Sovereign in whose reign it was elected. 
 This, however, is no longer so. 
 
 CHAPTER X.— THE BALANCE OF POWER. 
 
 Having now described the various parts of the organisa- 
 tion by which the laws of England are made, it will be 
 well to review the whole and see how admirably each 
 part checks and controls all the rest in its turn. And 
 the more we examine into the working of our Constitu- 
 tion, the more clearly shall we perceive that the power 
 of controlling the destinies of the nation is actually in 
 the hands of the people themselves, if they will but act 
 in accordance with the Constitution, and not resort to 
 illegal means to attain their ends. 
 
 The Sovereign, though endowed with supreme 
 authority, and occupying the position of chief of the 
 State, cannot act in contravention of the law, and is 
 bound to administer it as the courts may determine ; and 
 although able to exercise immense influence on the
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. loi 
 
 destinies of the nation, and by a personal control of the 
 affairs of the State, is restrained by constitutional usage, 
 as distinguished from constitutional right. Numerous 
 subtle influences are at work, restraining the Sovereign 
 from exercising the immense power his position as head 
 of the State confers. Unquestionably, the Sovereign is 
 not insensible to the feeling of the people, and that 
 feeling is exhibited and brought to bear upon him with 
 extraordinary force, with unmistakable clearness, and 
 with remarkable promptitude. Monarchs less wise and 
 discreet than those of our day have often been deterred 
 from imprudent action by the rough complaints of the 
 populace assembled in the Market-place, the Exchange, 
 or at the Palace-gates. Monarchs, in like manner, have 
 often been encouraged to continue in a policy approved 
 by the nation, by the applause of the multitude upon 
 their appearance in public places, or when passing 
 along the streets. The feeling of the people, however, 
 can now be gauged in this country by more certain 
 means than the cries of the multitude. 
 
 The Press, which may be regarded as part of our 
 Constitution, scarcely less so than the Cabinet, since 
 neither is established by law, though the position of 
 each is clearly defined by usage, and both are amenable 
 to the law, represents and interprets the feeling of the 
 people with unfailing accuracy. The Press cannot 
 misrepresent the people, because it lives by the people, 
 and whatever the people will not support in the Press 
 cannot live. It is true that unprincipled men sometimes 
 foster discontent among the ignorant, and others, 
 believing what they publish, endeavour to inculcate 
 false principles ; but, happily, the intelligence of the 
 vast majority of the people prevents harm resulting from 
 such publications, and those in authority \visely regard 
 them with indifference, except as an indication of the 
 extent to which the opinions represented by them prevail. 
 It may be taken as an axiom that a journal represents 
 the feeling of the nation in proportion as it is 
 pecuniarily successful ; and, accepting this axiom, we 
 may conclude that, inasmuch as no journal can live 
 which has not a constituency to support it, so every 
 journal, however obscure, however untruthful, however
 
 I02 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 bad, may be taken as representing the feeling of some 
 portion of the nation. Obviously, a successful newspaper 
 becomes a very powerful engine for the formation of 
 public opinion, because it happens with the Press, as 
 with every part of the recognized Constitution, that the 
 influence it exerts acts and re-acts upon itself. A news- 
 paper is supported by those whose opinions it expresses. 
 It puts into definite shape what is in its readers' minds 
 in a nebulous form, or else it absolutely forms an 
 opinion in its readers' minds on the basis of principles 
 which its readers accept. The Press is thus a leader and 
 former of public opinion only when it pronounces 
 judgment in accordance with principles generally 
 accepted by its readers, and it cannot lead public 
 opinion long unless it fulfils these conditions. There- 
 fore, we can say, with perfect confidence, that the 
 opinion of the people may be gauged with unfailing 
 accuracy through the Press, and we may assume that it 
 is so gauged by the Sovereign and his Ministers, who 
 shape their conduct accordingly. 
 
 The Sovereign is therefore influenced, and even 
 controlled, firstly, by the necessity he is under of 
 securing the services of Ministers to submit his designs 
 to Parliament, of procuring the concurrence of the 
 nobility, as represented by the House of Lords, and of 
 the commonalty, as represented by the House of 
 Commons ; and also of obtaining the loyal approval 
 of the people generall}^ as distinguished from their 
 Parliamentary representatives. 
 
 Setting aside for a moment the constitutional practice, 
 let us imagine a Sovereign determined to prosecute his 
 own wishes in opposition to the wishes of the people. 
 Being the fountain of honour, it might not be impossible 
 for him, b}^ conferring social distinctions and marks of 
 royal favour, to secure a Cabinet subservient to himself. 
 It would be difficult, because Ministers are far more 
 sensitive to public opinion than the Sovereign, inasmuch 
 as their position is more dependent upon public than 
 roj-al favour as we have already seen in the chapter on 
 *' The Responsibility of Ministers." But, assuming 
 such a Cabinet secured by the Sovereign, the further 
 prosecution of his designs would be impossible, for even
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 103 
 
 If his measures were favourable to the Lords, and 
 calculated to sustain their power, the Commons would 
 have to be conciliated, and though many of them would 
 be men of high social position, who might not be 
 disinclined to favour the pretensions of the Sovereign, 
 and increase the power of the nobility, the large majority 
 would have no such inclinations, and would unquestion- 
 ably be faithful to the trust reposed in them by their 
 constituencies. The people, by petition, and by 
 demonstrations In public meeting, by the exercise of the 
 right of free speech, and by the expression of their 
 opinions in the Press, would stimulate the House of 
 Commons, and support them with irresistible force ; so 
 that if such a contention as that we have supposed were 
 to arise, it could not be maintained. If the people willed 
 it the Sovereign would be obliged to give way. An 
 appeal to the country would not serve the Sovereign ; 
 it would simply result In the elimination from the 
 House of Commons of all those members who in any 
 way favoured the obnoxious measure, and the contest 
 would assuredly result in its withdrawal. 
 
 If we approach the question from the other side, the 
 power of the people is equally apparent. The Sovereign 
 has the right to veto any Bill agreed on by both 
 Houses ; he might, for Instance, be disposed to veto 
 some Bill which had emanated from a section of the 
 community unfavourable to the Monarchy, and he 
 might, by dismissing Ministers and calling others to his 
 service, without regard to any considerations but his own 
 desires, secure a Cabinet whose wishes would correspond 
 with his own In this respect ; but although such a 
 Cabinet might be created and desire to advise the 
 Sovereign to veto such a Bill, It would not venture to 
 do so, when the House of Peers, as well as the repre- 
 sentatives of the people, required It should pass. It 
 would be absurd, too, for the Cabinet to advise the 
 Sovereign to veto a measure whose rejection It had been 
 unable to secure by either branch of the Legislature. 
 Constitutional right. In such a case, must give place to 
 duty, just In the same way as it Is not always politic to 
 insist upon rights in private life, when courtesy requires 
 one to give way.
 
 104 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 The same distinction must be made, because the 
 same feeling operates in all branches of the Legislature. 
 In theory, as we have shown, the legislative authority 
 of the House of Lords is co-ordinate with that of the 
 House of Commons. It can absolutely reject, not only 
 once, but as many times as it chooses, and not only 
 without sufficient reason, but without any grounds 
 whatever, any Bill which may have been passed by the 
 House of Commons, however vitally affecting the liberty 
 of the subject, or however urgently demanded by the 
 whole community. But then it would not venture to do 
 so. If it did, it would be equally competent for the 
 Sovereign to create a sufficient number of new Peers as 
 would outnumber those who objected to the measure 
 which the country desired should become law, and 
 which the existing House of Peers refused to endorse. 
 In fact, the House of Lords cannot safely reject an 
 important Bill, or neutralise it by amendment, unless it 
 has good reason to believe that it has a majority of the 
 English people at its back, who are opposed to the 
 then existing majority in the House of Commons. 
 
 It may, however, happen, that upon a question, 
 affecting some powerful and compact section of the 
 community — some influential trade, for instance — 
 private selfishness ^vould prevail for a while in the 
 House of Commons over anxiety for the good of the 
 nation at large. At such a juncture, the independent 
 action of the House of Lords would be of great public 
 service. Uninfluenced by trade, with their positions as 
 members of the Legislature secure, uncontrolled in any 
 instance by a constituency in which the trade or interest 
 concerned might predominate, generally led by men of 
 learning and large experience trained to statesmanship, 
 and possessing the courage necessar}^ to place themselves 
 in opposition to an influential section of the 
 community, the members of the House of Lords would 
 in such a case do the State incalculable service by 
 refusing to endorse a measure, even though it had been 
 passed in the House of Commons by a large majority. 
 If the Ministers of the Crown, influenced by the same 
 considerations as the House of Commons, went to the 
 length of appealing to the country upon the question, as
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 105 
 
 against the House of Lords, the interest or trade which 
 had nearly been victorious would be swamped by the 
 nation at large, and the House of Lords would be 
 justified in its action. 
 
 In the same way it would be perfectly competent 
 for a House of Commons to stop the Supplies for carrying 
 on war, even though the majority of the people desired 
 it should be carried on ; but if it did so, the wishes of 
 the people would quickly become known, and the House 
 of Commons would be unable to withstand the expressed 
 desire of the King, the House of Lords and the people 
 combined. 
 
 We are, therefore, brought to the conclusion that the 
 people form the final Court of Appeal in all questions 
 of government in the United Kingdom. That element 
 in the Constitution which most accurately interprets 
 and acts in accordance with the will of the people, 
 whether it be the Sovereign, the Lords, or the Commons, 
 will assuredly control the destinies of the nation. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 
 
 In the course of the preceding chapters describing the 
 machinery by which the laws are made, we have noticed 
 that much of the law is administered by the Ministers 
 of State as representing the Sovereign, and we have 
 also noticed that the administration of the law by officials 
 representing the Privy Council or any department of the 
 State is confined to making regulations for the conduct 
 of public business, and issuing instructions for the 
 guidance of those charged with the administration of the 
 law throughout the country. Justice is administered by 
 Magistrates and Judges on the Bench. No Minister of 
 State, however high his position, has the power to inflict
 
 io6 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 punishment, or impose penalties, for a wrong done by 
 the meanest subject of the Crown, even though the 
 offence be committed against the State itself, and not 
 against a fellow subject. 
 
 There is only one instance approaching an exception 
 to this distinct rule ; and that instance may be taken 
 also as an illustration of the precision with which the 
 rule is observed. In cases where an Act of Parliament 
 imposes a penalty for evading the payment of a tax, the 
 Commissioners of Inland Revenue have the power, not 
 of inflicting a penalty, but of offering to those who 
 they believe have so offended against the law the option 
 of paying a mitigated penalty. They have no power to 
 enforce payment, and if an alleged offender decline to 
 comply with the offer, the Crown has no other means of 
 recovering the penalty than that of proceeding against 
 the offender in one of the ordinary Courts of Law. So 
 that although it is the Sovereign that is wronged, and 
 the State which suffers by the act of the offender in this 
 case, yet the Crown must sue him in one of the Courts 
 constituted by Parliament, and before one of the Judges 
 appointed to administer justice. Nothing can exhibit 
 more clearly one of the most striking characteristics of 
 our Constitution — the equality of all before the law — 
 than such a case as this. Still, stated thus baldly, room 
 might be given for doubt whether the subject would 
 receive justice at the hands of a Judge appointed by 
 the same authority as that which comes as a suitor 
 before it. We shall see presently whether there are any 
 grounds for this doubt, and to decide the matter fairly, 
 we must first consider who are appointed Judges, and 
 in what circumstances they are appointed. 
 
 Judges and Magistrates of all descriptions are 
 appointed by the Sovereign on the nomination of a 
 Minister of the Crown, with few exceptions, and in the 
 case of these exceptions the appointments must be con- 
 firmed by the Crown before those appointed can act. 
 Judges of the Superior Courts are appointed from among 
 Barristers of long standing who have achieved a high 
 reputation as counsel in pleading the causes of suitors 
 in the Courts. Sometimes, though not always, appoint- 
 ments to the Bench are made as rewards for political
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 107 
 
 services rendered to the Cabinet in the House of 
 
 Commons ; but in no case can such rewards be given 
 
 with impunity unless the legal standing of the persons 
 
 nominated justifies the appointment. They retain their 
 
 office for life, or until promoted, and their full salary is 
 
 secured to them as long as they continue at their posts. 
 
 The Sovereign cannot dismiss them, nor do they retire JL'DGES and 
 
 on the demise of the Crown. No Judge can be removed magis- 
 
 from the Bench except upon conviction for some offence, trates. 
 
 or upon an address to the Crown agreed on by both 
 
 Houses of Parliament, praying for his removal. To 
 
 secure this, it would be necessary to prove him guilty of 
 
 some dereliction of duty. If, for instance, it could be 
 
 proved that he had received a bribe to give judgment 
 
 in a particular way, or gave judgment from favouritism 
 
 rather than in accordance with the law, nothing more 
 
 would be needed to displace him. Happily, no such case 
 
 has been even suggested for many years past ; and the 
 
 purity of the English Bench in the present day stands 
 
 higher than the Bench of any other country of any 
 
 period. It is not difficult to discover the cause of this. 
 
 The fact that a Judge cannot be removed from office 
 
 except in consequence of his own misconduct, renders 
 
 him perfectly independent of all influences which can 
 
 possibly be brought to bear upon him by those higher 
 
 in authority than himself. He is independent even of 
 
 the Sovereign, in whose name he administers justice, and 
 
 of the heir to the Throne in whose name he would act 
 
 should he survive the Sovereign who appointed him. 
 
 It is true he may have hopes of preferment, but then 
 
 his decisions are duly recorded in the Law Reports 
 
 published by authority, are liable to be criticised, and 
 
 may be reviewed by a Superior Court. As a Judge is 
 
 more anxious to achieve the reputation of being a sound 
 
 lawyer than to gain preferment by pleasing individuals, 
 
 it has come to pass that no consideration has been 
 
 found sufficient in these later days to induce an English 
 
 Judge to abuse his office. 
 
 Therefore a subject need not fear to take his case even 
 as against the Crown into a Court and leave the matter 
 in the hands of the Judge. In some cases, to be 
 hereafter specified, he must do so, but in all cases of 
 
 H
 
 io8 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 personal liberty, and in most cases of disputes about 
 money matters, the subject has yet another security : 
 the facts relating to the question at issue must be tried 
 by jury. 
 
 Trial by jury is regarded as one of the chief securities 
 of our liberties, and the right to such trial has always 
 been jealously maintained. It is disputed whether we 
 inherit the custom from the Anglo-Saxons or the 
 Normans ; probably it prevailed among both nations 
 before the Conquest in one shape or other. Some 
 authorities trace the origin of the custom to the Greeks 
 and Romans ; but the method of trial by jury, as we 
 at present understand it, was not fully adopted until as 
 late as the fifteenth century. 
 
 Originally the jury consisted of twelve men, summoned 
 from the neighbourhood where the disputed fact was 
 supposed to have occurred, because, in the words of the 
 original form of summons, they were the persons " by 
 whom the truth of the matter might be better known." 
 They were sworn " to speak the truth," and from such 
 records of trials at the time as we now possess, they seem 
 to have been regarded merely as witnesses called to 
 inform the Judge as to the facts, or perhaps to pass an 
 opinion on the credibility of the actual witnesses in the 
 case. If a juror declared in open court before the trial 
 that he knew nothing of the matter respecting which he 
 had been summoned to speak, he was dismissed and 
 another was summoned in his stead ; moreover, they 
 were punished for perjury if they gave a wilfully false 
 verdict, or hesitated in stating their opinion upon a 
 matter of notoriety. Now, however, the jury of twelve 
 are taken, not from the neighbourhood where the matter 
 in question is supposed to have arisen, but from any 
 part of the county ; they are not required to know any- 
 thing of the matter, but are required to dismiss from their 
 minds all they may have heard in the shape of common 
 gossip respecting it ; they are required, in fact, to hear 
 the statements made by the witnesses on the one side 
 and the other, to form an opinion as to the truth of these 
 statements, and to give a true verdict according to the 
 evidence placed before them. Lord Chief Justice Hale, 
 describing the duty and powers of a jury, has said *' they
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 109 
 
 are to consider the evidence, to weigh the credibility of 
 the witnesses and the force and efficacies of their 
 testimonies wherein they are not precisely bound by the 
 rules of the civil law — viz., to have two witnesses to 
 prove every fact, unless it be in cases of treason, nor to 
 reject one witness because he is single, or always to 
 believe two witnesses, if the probability of the fact does, 
 upon other circumstances, reasonably encounter them ; 
 for the trial is not here simply by witnesses, hut by jury ,' 
 nay, it may so fall out that a jury, upon their own 
 knowledge, inay know a thing to be false that a witness, 
 swore to be true ; or may know a witness to be 
 incompetent or incredible, though nothing be objected 
 against him — and may give their verdict accordingly." 
 In all cases where a jury is employed, then they alone 
 determine which party has the truth upon his side ; the 
 judge only expounds the la^v to the jury, registers their 
 verdict, and passes judgment upon the basis of it. When 
 we consider that this is the common practice in all cases 
 where the man's liberty is at stake, or where two men 
 are in dispute, we must come to the conclusion that trial 
 by jury is no small security that the decision shall be 
 fair, although mistakes may possibly result. 
 
 Nor is it a small matter for a man upon his trial, or 
 for such as are appealing to the law against injustice, 
 that those whom they desire to appear as witnesses in 
 their favour can be compelled to attend. This is done 
 by a writ of Subpoena, which was first issued out of 
 Chancery by John de Waltham, appointed Keeper of the 
 Rolls in the year 1381. Much dissatisfaction was 
 expressed by some who were thus compelled under 
 penalties to act as witnesses when first the writ was 
 issued, and petitions were presented to Parliament 
 against a continuance of the practice ; but it was found 
 to be of such service that it has ever since been maintained 
 as a matter of right and justice to those whose case is 
 submitted to the judgment of the Courts. 
 
 Reviewing the process by which the judges are 
 appointed, and remembering that they pass judgment 
 in accordance with the verdict of a jury, we find that 
 not only does constitutional usage place the judicial 
 authority beyond the personal control of the Sovereign, 
 
 WITNESSE s
 
 no THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 but takes it out of the hands even of the actual judge 
 himself, who does not administer the law until the jury 
 have decided upon the fact. Further, we find that the 
 jury, for whose declaration the Sovereign and the Judge 
 wait before giving the law effect, do not form a 
 permanent body who could study how the power they 
 possess might be used to promote their private advantage, 
 but are called together haphazard, never, perhaps, having 
 served before, and without much probability of being 
 called upon to serve but once or twice again. M. de 
 Lolme, who wrote in praise of the British Constitution 
 during the last century, elaborates this reflection. " In 
 fine," he says, " such is the happy nature of this institu- 
 tion, that the judicial power, a power so formidable in 
 itself, which is to dispose, without finding any resistance, 
 of the property, honour, and life of individuals, and which, 
 whatever precautions may be taken to restrain it, must 
 in a great degree remain arbitrary, may be said in 
 England to exist — to accomplish every intended purpose 
 — and to be in the hands of nobody. The consequence 
 of this institution is, that no man in England ever meets 
 the man of whom he may say, ' That man has a power 
 to decide on my death or life.' If we could for a 
 moment forget the advantages of that institution, we 
 ought at least to admire the ingenuity of it." 
 
 The liberty of the subject is further secured by two 
 other leading principles : the law can be put in force 
 by any subject in the realm, and none can be imprisoned 
 without lawful cause, nor long detained without trial. 
 Not only can any person who feels a wrong has been 
 done him by another appeal to the Courts for protection 
 or redress, but any person knowing a crime has been 
 committed may, in the name of the Crown, set the law 
 in force against the wrong-doer, even though he shall 
 have no connection whatever with him or the person 
 wronged. 
 
 The law which prevents the detention of persons 
 without trial is commonly known as the Habeas Corpus 
 Act, which was passed in the thirty-first year of the 
 Reign of Charles II., and is entitled " An Act for better 
 securing the liberty of the subject, and for prevention of 
 imprisonment beyond the seas." It contains provisions
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. iii 
 
 by which no British subject can be long detained in 
 prison except in such cases as the law requires him to 
 be detained. Should a person be imprisoned without 
 being informed of the cause of his imprisonment, 
 application may be made on his behalf to the Lord 
 Chancellor or any of the Judges at any time, no matter 
 whether the Courts are sitting or not, for a writ of 
 habeas corpus, returnable immediately ; and this writ 
 will require the person holding the prisoner in custody 
 to take him before the Judge named in the writ as 
 speedily as the distance will permit, which in no case 
 could justify a delay of more than twenty days. When 
 brought, the Judge shall determine whether the prisoner 
 is properly detained ; if not, he is bound to order his 
 liberation. 
 
 Another provision in the Act requires that every person 
 committed for treason or felony shall, if he require it, be 
 brought to trial at the next sitting of the Court which 
 should try him ; and, if acquitted, or not tried during 
 the second sitting of that Court, he shall be discharged, 
 unless it should be shown to the Court that time is 
 required to bring the witnesses together. Another 
 provision forbids the recommitment of a person for the 
 same offence, when once delivered by a writ of habeas 
 corpus, and very severe penalties are attached to any 
 infringement or evasion of the law. An Act passed in 
 the Reign of George III. extended the operation of the 
 Act of Charles II., not only to cases of illegal detention 
 by one subject of another, but to cases of illegal 
 detention in which the Crown is specially concerned. 
 Persons charged with smuggling, for instance, or 
 impressed for service in the Na\'y, could apply for a 
 writ of habeas corpus as against the Lords Commissioners 
 of the Treasury in the one case, or the First Lord of the 
 Admiralty in the other. 
 
 Of course, it is competent for Parliament at any time 
 to put an end to this law, and it has been the practice, 
 in times of alleged danger, for Parliament to suspend 
 the Habeas Corpus Act by giving authority to the 
 Crown, for a limited period, to imprison suspected 
 persons without giving any reason for so doing. Some 
 think these times of alleged danger are the very periods
 
 112 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 when the Act is most necessary ; because it is in times 
 of tumult that men in authority are apt to confound 
 the innocent with the guilty, if not to be despotic and 
 cruel. The Habeas Corpus Act, however, it is said on 
 the other hand, is designed for the protection of the 
 innocent, and is not designed to prevent the punishment 
 of the guilty ; and inasmuch as history records cases in 
 which certain law-breakers became a terror to a district 
 even to the repression of free verdicts by jurymen, the 
 suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act becomes necessary 
 for the protection of the community at large. The 
 question as to whether the Act shall be suspended or not 
 is a question for Parliament to determine ; that is to 
 say, the people themselves determine whether this 
 ordinary safeguard of their liberties shall be set aside 
 in the unusual circumstances of the time. 
 LIBERTY OF The liberty of the subject, then, is secured by the 
 THE independence of the Judges, by trial by jury, by the 
 
 SUBJECT, power every subject has of enforcing the law, and by 
 freedom from imprisonment without speedy trial. The 
 principle in our Constitution, however, which has most 
 created the astonishment of foreigners in respect of the 
 administration of justice, is the power the meanest 
 subject has in this country of securing complete redress 
 for any violation of the law, though committed by the 
 chief representatives of the Sovereign. But cases are not 
 uncommon in these days, in which persons of com- 
 paratively low degree are found suing, and suing 
 successfully. Ministers of the Crown for the consequences 
 of acts done in their capacity as representatives of the 
 Sovereign. 
 
 A case is recorded of the reign of Queen Anne, which 
 illustrates at once the confidence with which men in this 
 country appeal to the laws, the respect shown by the 
 Sovereign to them, and the advantages we enjoy as 
 compared with the condition of the inhabitants of 
 other countries. The Russian Ambassador, in the year 
 1708, was arrested, when riding through the street, at 
 the suit of a tradesman, for a debt of £50. The Czar of 
 Russia, upon hearing of the occurrence, was greatly 
 incensed at what he regarded as an affront, and 
 demanded that the Sheriff of Middlesex, whose agent had
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 113 
 
 made the arrest, and all others concerned in it, should 
 be punished with instant death. " But the Queen, to 
 the amazement of that despotic Court," says Judge 
 Blackstone, who records the incident, " directed the 
 Secretary of State to inform him that she could inflict 
 no punishment upon any of the meanest of her subjects, 
 unless warranted by the law of the land." It is necessary 
 to add that, foreseeing trouble might arise out of such 
 a state of the law, an Act of Parliament was afterwards 
 passed, freeing from arrest all ambassadors in this 
 country, and such of their servants as they may name to 
 the Secretary of State. A copy of this Act, elegantly 
 engrossed, was sent to the Czar by an Ambassador 
 specially commissioned for the purpose. 
 
 Having described the leading principles of the 
 Constitution, in respect of the administration of justice, 
 it is now necessary to describe the titles and positions 
 of these officers who administer justice, and the titles 
 and jurisdiction of their several courts. 
 
 Originally the Anglo-Saxon Kings administered justice 
 in person, assisted by the Witenagemot, or Meeting of 
 the Wise, and they made progress through the country 
 for the purpose of deciding complaints and reviewing 
 decisions of their Thanes which had been appealed from. 
 William the Conqueror, however, although he did not 
 alter the Constitution of the Great Council of the Anglo- 
 Saxons, created an officer, with the title of Chief chief 
 Justiciar, to preside in this Court, when dispensing JUSTICIAR, 
 justice, and from the fact that it always followed the 
 person of the King, and was held in the hall of the 
 King's palace, it came to be known as the Curia or 
 Aula Regis, or Court of the King. This Court decided AULA REGIS, 
 all cases, whether complaints against persons or breaches 
 of the King's peace, or appeals from inferior Courts, 
 complaints relating to the payment of taxes into the 
 King's Exchequer, and disputes between subject and 
 subject, known as Common Pleas. William the Conqueror 
 likewise discontinued the practice of going through the 
 country, from time to time, to dispense justice, but 
 instead of this, he annually summoned his Great Council 
 to sit at Easter, Whitsuntide and Christmas, in three 
 different parts of the kingdom, Winchester, Westminster
 
 114 
 
 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 JUSTICES IN 
 EYRE. 
 
 THE KING S 
 BENCH. 
 
 COURTS OF 
 
 EXCHEQUER 
 
 AND 
 
 COMMON 
 
 PLEAS. 
 
 CIRCUITS. 
 
 and Gloucester. This brought a great many suitors to 
 Westminster, but to those who could not come justice was 
 denied. Accordingly, Justices in Eyre were appointed 
 to travel through the country with jurisdiction almost 
 equal to that of the Aula Regis itself. 
 
 These itinerant Judges, however, did not complete 
 their circuit in less than seven years, and some further 
 change being deemed necessary, the whole system of 
 administering justice was reorganised during the period 
 between the reign of Edvvard I. and Edward III. The 
 Aula Regis was abolished, and three separate Courts 
 were ablisheestd : the Court of King's Bench, which had 
 the power of controlling all inferior tribunals throughout 
 the country, and dealing with all crimes, misdemeanours 
 and breaches of the peace ; the Court of Exchequer, 
 which had to deal only with cases relating to the 
 Revenue ; and the Court of Common Pleas, which was 
 deputed to decide cases of disagreement between private 
 persons. These Courts existed until recent times, and 
 full weight was given to the distinctions between them ; 
 that is to say, although an action by one private person 
 against another could, with certain exceptions, be 
 brought in any of the three Courts, certain actions, 
 such as those arising out of disputed ownership of land, 
 were brought in the Court of Common Pleas ; actions 
 relating to the Revenue in the Court of Exchequer ; 
 and actions involving criminal charges, or in any \vay 
 relating to breaches of the peace, were brought in the 
 Court of King's or Queen's Bench. These distinctions 
 are now, however, at an end. 
 
 About the same period was established the custom of 
 certain of the Judges making circuits through the 
 country twice a year to administer justice, as the 
 Anglo-Saxon Kings, and as the Justices in Eyre had 
 done, but with greater regularity ; and this system 
 is in operation to the present day. The circuits are 
 fixed by Act of Parliament, and the Judges meet and 
 determine each year "which of them shall go upon this 
 errand, and upon what day. They are then formally 
 appointed for the purpose by Commissions from 
 the Sovereign, which are issued from the Crown 
 Office.
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 115 
 
 The principal of these is called a Commission of Oyer oyer and 
 and Terminer, which, in ancient French, means a terminer. 
 Commission to " hear and determine." It is directed 
 to the Lord Chancellor, several high officers of State, 
 resident noblemen, and Magistrates, and two Judges, 
 together with the King's or Queen's Counsel, and the 
 Sergeants-at-Law who happen to attach themselves to 
 certain circuits, and the Prothonotary or Associate of the 
 Judge resident in the county ; it authorises those 
 commissioned to enquire into the truth of all charges of 
 treason, felony, and misdemeanour committed within 
 the several counties and places which constitute their 
 circuits, and also to hear and determine the same on 
 certain days, and at certain places, to be appointed by 
 themselves. A second Commission of General Gaol 
 Delivery is also directed to the Judges attending each 
 circuit, the King's or Queen's Counsel, the Sergeants, 
 and the Judges' Associates ; it is in the nature of a letter 
 from the Sovereign commanding those named in the 
 Commission to deliver the gaol of the place named in 
 the Commission of all the prisoners confined in it ; 
 and it also informs them that the Sheriff of the County, 
 who has control of the gaols, is comm.anded to bring 
 the prisoners before them on a day to be named by the 
 Commissioners themselves. 
 
 The Judges going circuit have, also by statute, powers 
 to try causes of difference between private persons, as 
 well as to try prisoners, and when so acting, they are 
 called Judges of Nisi Prius. The meaning of this nisi prius. 
 description, " Nisi Prius," which literally interpreted 
 means " unless before," is easy to be understood. 
 Before the time when the practice of Judges going on 
 circuit was thoroughly established, the Sheriff of the 
 County where the cause arose was commanded to bring 
 the jury and witnesses to Westminster to tr}^ the action ; 
 but when the attendance of Judges in the country had 
 become not uncommon, the writ to the Sheriff contained 
 what is known as a clause of Nisi Prius, and ran : — 
 
 " We command you that you cause to come before 
 our Justices at Westminster, on the morrow of All 
 Souls, twelve lawful men who, etc., unless before {nisi 
 prius) that day A. B. and C. D., our Justices assigned
 
 ii6 
 
 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 THE CAN- 
 CELLARIA. 
 
 COURT OF 
 CHANCERY. 
 
 for that purpose, shall come to your county to take the 
 assizes there." 
 
 Until recently this form was still obser\-ed ; but the 
 Sheriff never had to bring his jury and witnesses to 
 Westminster, because the day named in the writ was 
 always later than that fixed for the Judge to attend 
 on circuit. The phrase " Nisi Prius " has now come to 
 be used as a description of the causes tried by the 
 Judges in these circumstances. It will, however, suffice 
 for the purpose of this work to distinguish only between 
 civil and criminal cases. 
 
 There was yet another department of the Aula Regis, 
 besides those referred to above, called the Cancellaria, 
 in which were prepared the \vrits and precepts for 
 conducting the business of the Court, and ultimately 
 became known as the Court of Chancery. It was 
 presided over by the King's Chancellor, who in those 
 days was of subordinate rank, although he sat with 
 the other Judges in the Aula Regis. He was originally 
 the King's chief Chaplain or Secretary, and 
 supervised all Royal grants and charters made by the 
 Sovereign. The nature of his duties brought him much 
 into personal communication with the King, and when 
 the office of Chief Justiciar \vas put an end to, and the 
 three Courts took the place of the Aula Regis, the 
 Cancellaria still remained a part of the King's Court, 
 and the Chancellor still remained near the person of the 
 King. In time, he naturally became his Prime Minister, 
 and thus we have the origin of the political office of 
 Lord Chancellor described in the chapter on " The 
 Cabinet and the Government." 
 
 The Court of Chancery arose out of the administrative 
 duties of the Chancellor. Having to supervise and issue 
 the Royal Charters, he became their interpreter, when 
 the powers exercised under them were disputed, and 
 thus he determined cases of private wrong. Petitions 
 for the settlement of similar questions were also 
 presented to Parliament, and these multiplied so largely 
 that it was thought best to constitute the Chancellor 
 head of a Court for the purpose of authoritatively deciding 
 all such matters, and he did so until recently, without a 
 jury, in accordance with well-established rules, which
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 117 
 
 have gradually become moulded into what is known as 
 Equity law, because the judgments were originally, and 
 are still, based not so much on statutes as upon reason 
 and natural right. The Court of Chancery was, for 
 this reason, called a Court of Equity, and its jurisdiction 
 an Equitable Jurisdiction. 
 
 The Court of Queen's Bench, the Court of Exchequer, 
 and the Court of Common Pleas, administered the law 
 according to what is known as the Common Law of the 
 land, which includes that which is unwritten, and 
 interpreted only by the decisions of the Courts, as well 
 as that defined by Statutes. The Courts of Equity 
 being guided by rules different from those of the 
 Common Law Courts, the decisions of the two often 
 conflicted, and efforts were made from time to time to 
 unite them and make their decisions and practice agree. 
 The actual union of the two sets of Courts, however, 
 was not accomplished until the ist November, 1875, 
 w^hen the Courts for the administration of the law in 
 England were reconstituted under the title of the 
 Supreme Court of Judicature, which, by the Acts of supreme 
 Parliament constituting it, is divided into two main COURT OF 
 divisions, entitled the High Court of Justice and the J^'DICATURE 
 Court of Appeal. 
 
 The High Court of Justice was first composed of the 
 Lord Chancellor, the Lord Chief Justice of England, 
 the Master of the I^olls, the Lord Chief Justice of 
 Common Pleas, the Lord Chief Baron of Exchequer, 
 the several Vice-Chancellors of the Court of Chancery, 
 the Judge of the Court of Probate, the several puisne 
 or junior Justices of the King's Bench, the several 
 puisne or junior Judges of the Common Pleas, the several 
 junior Barons of the Exchequer, and the Judge of the 
 High Court of Admiralty. Though forming one 
 Court in which each Judge had equal jurisdiction with 
 another, the various divisions corresponding with and 
 distinguished by the names which each branch of the 
 Judicature formerly held were continued, and the causes 
 tried in these divisions were more or less appropriate to 
 the historical associations and ancient jurisdictions. 
 These divisions, however, continued only so long as the 
 holders of the various offices remained on the Bench,
 
 ii8 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 when each minor distinction was abolished, as the 
 Judicature Act provides, by an Order in Council. The 
 office of Lord Chancellor continues as already described, 
 so also does that of the Lord Chief Justice of England, 
 and of the Master of the Rolls, but there are now no 
 other distinctive Judgeships. 
 
 The Judges of the Supreme Court of Judicature try 
 only the most important cases. All the more trifling 
 matters are disposed of as they arise in the County 
 Courts, or by the Justices of the Peace, or Magistrates, 
 and those associated with them, to dispense justice in 
 the places where they reside. 
 JUSTICES OF Throughout the country, in every city or town, and 
 THE PEACE, within easy reach of every village, may be found a 
 representative of the Crown in the person of a resident 
 Magistrate, or Justice of the Peace. Justices were first 
 appointed in the reign of Edward IIL His mother, 
 Isabella, immediately upon his coming to the throne 
 sent writs to the different Sheriffs, stating that his 
 accession had taken place with his father's consent, and 
 commanding that the peace be kept on pain of 
 disinheritance, and loss of life and limb. A few weeks 
 afterwards it was ordained that, for the better keeping 
 of the peace in every county, good and lawful men 
 should be assigned to keep the peace. They were 
 accordingly appointed by the Crown, and so are to this 
 day, except that the elected Mayor and Aldermen of the 
 City of London and the Mayors of incorporated towns 
 are also Magistrates, though not County Justices, by 
 virtue of their office. 
 
 County Justices are now appointed by Commission, 
 from among the most worthy gentlemen resident in the 
 county in which they have jurisdiction. Their powers 
 are all set forth by Acts of Parliament constituting 
 them authorities in the matters they administer, but 
 their most important duty is still the preservation of 
 order in their respective neighbourhoods and the 
 dispensing of justice. For the latter purpose they sit 
 in Petty Sessions to hear and decide complaints, to 
 consider charges against persons in the custody of the 
 police, to commit them to prison, if convicted, in 
 certain cases of small degree, or to await trial by a
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 119 
 
 superior Court in graver cases. This superior Court 
 
 may be the Court of Quarter Sessions held by the Justices court of 
 
 themselves once in every three months, or in still graver QUARTER 
 
 cases the prisoner may be committed for trial at the sessions. 
 
 Assizes. But to ensure that on the one hand the Justices 
 
 do not refuse justice when they have it in their power 
 
 to grant it, and on the other do not exceed their 
 
 powers and act with partial, corrupt, or malicious 
 
 motive, suitors who feel they have cause may appeal 
 
 against their decision to the Supreme Court of Judicature, 
 
 which exercises a general superintendence over all Avho 
 
 administer the general law of the country. If they have 
 
 right on their side, the offending Justice will, in the one 
 
 case, be compelled to do what he had before refused, 
 
 and in the other, if his motives be proved corrupt, he 
 
 will be liable to fine and imprisonment, and removal 
 
 from the Commission of the Peace. 
 
 Every meeting of the Court of Quarter Sessions is cusTOS 
 attended by the Custos Rotulorum, that Justice of the rotulorum. 
 Peace who keeps the rolls of the local Courts. He is 
 not bound, however, to attend in person, and may send 
 a deputy. 
 
 The Magistrates of the larger towns usually have 
 associated with them for the hearing of complaints 
 Stipendiary Magistrates, who, as their name implies, 
 are paid for their services ; and also Recorders, who 
 are appointed to preside at the Borough Sessions, and 
 conduct trials in all respects as a Judge, except that all 
 cases of difficulty — that is, all graver cases — are reserved 
 for the Assizes. The Police Magistrates who sit daily 
 in London and Westminster are Stipendiary Magistrates, 
 but the Recorder of the City of London is an officer of 
 some antiquity, appointed by the Lord Mayor and 
 Court of Aldermen by prescriptive right, but neither he 
 nor his deputy, the Common Sergeant, can try cases 
 until their appointments have first been endorsed by the 
 Crown. The title of Recorder arises from the fact that 
 the first charter of Edward IV. to the City of London 
 grants that the customs of the City be certified and 
 " recorded " by word of mouth, and that the Mayor 
 and Aldermen may declare by the Recorder what the 
 custom is in disputed cases. Special provision is made
 
 I20 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 for the County of Middlesex also in lieu of Assizes, on 
 account of the large number of cases arising in the City 
 and its suburbs. The Central Criminal Court, consisting 
 of the Lord Mayor, the Lord Chancellor, and the other 
 Judges of the Supreme Court of Judicature, the Judge 
 in Bankruptcy, the Aldermen of the City of London, 
 the Recorder, the Common Sergeant of the City, who 
 acts as Deputy Recorder, and the Judge of the Sheriffs' 
 Courts, holds sessions at least twelve times a year, and 
 tries all prisoners committed by the Magistrates in 
 London and Middlesex, and in certain parts of Essex, 
 Kent and Surrey. Prisoners charged with petty offences 
 are dealt with by the County Justices. 
 THE LORD The Justices are, in some cases, subject to the Lord 
 LIEUTENANT, Lieutenant of their county, an officer of great distinction 
 and generally a Peer, appointed to manage the militia 
 of the county and all military matters therein. They 
 recommend the minor officers of the militia, and present 
 to the Sovereign the names of those fit to fill the office 
 of Deputy Lieutenant ; they also recommend who 
 shall be appointed Justices of the Peace, but this forms 
 no part of their duty, strictly speaking. 
 THE The officer, however, who has most to do with the 
 
 SHERIFF, execution of the law in his county is the Sheriff. He is, 
 in fact, the first man in his county during his year of 
 office, and takes precedence there of even Peers of the 
 Realm. He represents, too, an oflice of greater antiquity 
 than any other, except that of the King. The duties of 
 all other officei's of State have changed, or been entirely 
 abolished, but the Sheriff is still the officer who levies 
 fines due to the State, and he is still a conservator of 
 the peace, although he may not act as a Justice during 
 his year of office. 
 
 In the earliest Saxon times of which we have any 
 record, we read of the Shire-Reve, a title taken, in part, 
 from the Saxon word reafan : to levy or seize. He then 
 represented the lord of the district within which he 
 levied the lord's dues and performed some of his judicial 
 functions. He does the same now for the King. He 
 was sometimes appointed by the lord, but more often 
 elected by the freeholders of the district. He is now 
 appointed by the Sovereign, except in those cases which
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 121 
 
 are regulated by special charter. The freemen of the 
 City of London, for instance, still have the perpetual 
 right to elect the Sheriff of Middlesex. The common 
 method of appointment, however, is for the Lord 
 Chancellor, the First Lord of the Treasury, and the 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer, together with the Judges, 
 to meet early in November, to consider who shall be 
 appointed Sheriff in each county for the year. The 
 Judges report the names of three fit persons in each 
 county, obtained by them from the Sheriff holding office 
 when they last visited the county as Judges of Assize. 
 The first of these is usually chosen, and the list so made 
 is considered by the Cabinet early in the following year. 
 If any of those nominated desire to be excused from 
 serving, the grounds of their excuse are examined, and 
 the list finally determined on is submitted to the approval 
 of the Sovereign, at a meeting of the Privy Council, 
 when the ceremony of " pricking the Sheriffs " is gone 
 through. The names being all written on sheets of 
 vellum, the Sovereign pierces a hole through the 
 parchment with a punch, opposite the name of the 
 person appointed for each county ; and this puncture 
 denotes to whom the patents of office are to be issued. 
 
 A Sheriff derives his authority from two patents, one 
 committing to him the custody of the county, and the 
 other commanding the inhabitants to aid him. His 
 duties are numerous, and he has power to appoint an 
 Under-Sheriff to help him ; he is also obliged to have 
 an agent in London. The county gaol is under his 
 control ; he has power to apprehend all wrongdoers ; 
 he summons the juries to try prisoners, receives and 
 constantly attends the Judges when they arrive in his 
 county as Judges of Assize, carries out the sentence of 
 the law, receives all fines due to the Crown, and 
 renders account of them ; he acts as returning officer 
 in the election of members to serve in Parliament, and 
 therefore cannot himself represent his county in 
 Parliament. During his year of office he presides in his 
 own Court as a Judge, and decides certain small causes 
 of disputed right. In times of riot, rebellion, or invasion, 
 he has to defend the county, and with this object may 
 summon to his aid all men within it over fifteen years
 
 122 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 of age. This assembly is called the posse comitatus, and 
 to refuse obedience to the call of the Sheriff is an 
 offence punishable by fine and imprisonment. The 
 onerous character of the office, coupled with the fact 
 that severe penalties are attached to any neglect or 
 breach of its duties, causes some to shrink from 
 undertaking it, but unless they can find a good excuse 
 for refusing to serve they are fined heavily, and may be 
 called on again and again. One, however, who has 
 served is not liable to be called on again until after 
 the lapse of three years, unless no other person can be 
 found in the shire of sufficient substance for the office. 
 
 The course pursued in the conduct of trials before the 
 Judges of Assize, before the Central Criminal Court, 
 sitting at the Old Bailey, before the Recorders in 
 Borough Sessions, or the Chairman of the Justices sitting 
 in Ouarter Sessions, is the same in all material points. 
 If, therefore, we follow the course pursued at the Assizes, 
 we shall see in what manner justice is administered 
 throughout the country. 
 
 The Sheriff, having ascertained from the Associate 
 when the Judge is expected, goes to meet him, and 
 attends him as long as he makes circuit within his 
 county. Upon his arrival in each town, he accompanies 
 him to the Court House, when the ceremony of reading 
 the Commissions is gone through, authorising the Judge 
 to act. This done, the Judge may at once proceed to 
 the trial of causes and prisoners, or he may adjourn the 
 Court until another day. He usually adjourns Court 
 until the next day, when the first step taken is to swear 
 QUALiFiCA- ^\^Q Grand Jury, whose attendance the Sheriff will have 
 TiON OF secured. Common jurors will also have been summoned 
 JURORS, by \i\m and be in attendance. All men between the ages 
 of twenty-one and sixty, who are freeholders, or who 
 rent houses of the value of £30, in Middlesex, and £20 
 elsewhere, are liable to be called on to sit as jurors, 
 unless they be Peers, Judges, clergymen, Roman 
 Catholic priests, dissenting ministers following no other 
 occupation except that of schoolmaster, sergeants and 
 barristers-at-law, attorneys, proctors, officers of courts, 
 coroners, gaolers, physicians, surgeons, apothecaries, 
 officers in the Army and Navy on full pay, licensed
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 
 
 1^3 
 
 pilots, masters of vessels in the buoy and light service, 
 household servants of the Sovereign, officers of customs 
 and excise, sheriffs' officers, high constables and parish 
 clerks. 
 
 The Grand Jury must consist of at least twelve men ; the grand 
 it however generally numbers more, and is usually jury. 
 composed of men occupying a somewhat higher position 
 in life than common jurors. The Grand Jury having 
 been sworn, the Clerk of the Court reads the Royal 
 Proclamation against vice and immorality, after which 
 the Judge charges the Grand Jury, reviewing the more 
 important cases that await trial, and explaining points 
 of law upon which they may need information. The 
 Grand Jury then retire to their room, where they are 
 furnished with a separate bill of indictment against 
 each prisoner, stating the offence with which he is 
 charged, and how he comes before the Court, and 
 having inscribed on the back of it the names of the 
 principal witnesses who appear in reference to the 
 matter. Having examined each witness in turn, no- 
 one else being present, the Grand Jury consider whether 
 the bill of indictment is a true bill or not. If a majority 
 of at least twelve of their number decide that the 
 evidence they have heard, being uncontradicted, would 
 be sufficient to prove the guilt of the prisoner, the bill 
 is endorsed " A true bill," or they may say the bill is a true' 
 true in some respects, and not true in others, or they bill. 
 may amend the bill, and return it " A true bill" as 
 amended. If less than twelve think the evidence 
 sufficient, they endorse the bill " Ignoramus : " " We do 
 not know," whence comes the phrase, " ignoring a 
 bill." The more common endorsement, however, is 
 *' No true bill," and when this is the finding of the 
 Grand Jury, the prisoner is free. He may, however, be 
 again apprehended at some future time, and put upon 
 his trial for the same offence, whereas, if his case had 
 proceeded to trial, and he had been acquitted, he could 
 not; for when once a man has been tried and acquitted, he 
 cannot be again charged with the same offence, no matter 
 what proof of his guilt may be afterwards discovered. 
 
 The Grand Jury, from time to time, as they proceed 
 with their work, return into Court, bringing the bills
 
 124 ^^^£ BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 with them ; and the Clerk, in their presence, reads the 
 name of the prisoner on each bill, and the finding of 
 the Grand Jury endorsed on the back of it. When they 
 have considered and endorsed all the bills of indictment 
 they are dismissed ; but before retiring they may make 
 any presentment they think fit touching the public 
 welfare. 
 
 All those prisoners against whom true bills have been 
 found have now to be tried, and must be brought to the 
 bar. If in custody, a prisoner will be brought up by 
 the gaoler, and, if he should have been permitted by the 
 authority who committed him to go at large on bail, 
 between the time of his commitment and his trial, some 
 of his friends having been surety for him, he will 
 probably appear of his own accord. If not, his friends 
 will forfeit their bail, and the Sheriff will seize their 
 goods if they do not pay. But although those indicted 
 are kept in safe custody, every man, according to 
 the English law, is presumed to be innocent until 
 pronounced guilty by the Jury. This does not mean 
 that the law holds his innocence to be more probable 
 than his guilt, but merely that the burden of proof lies 
 upon the accusers — not that the prisoner has to prove 
 his innocence, but that his accusers have to prove his 
 guilt. This, also, is the principle which forbids that 
 any should be punished before conviction. The detention 
 of a person in custody awaiting his trial must be 
 regarded as a security for the public, not as a punishment 
 of the person detained. 
 
 Let us suppose one of those against whom the Grand 
 Jury has found a true bill is indicted for embezzlement, 
 inasmuch as he has been charged with having stolen 
 some money belonging to one who has employed and 
 trusted him. Offences of this character are dealt with 
 by the law with great rigour, because if they were 
 common, they would render the conduct of business 
 impossible by preventing all confidence between 
 employer and employed. The prisoner so indicted 
 having been placed at the bar is called upon to plead 
 *' Guilty," or " Not Guilty." If he plead " Guilty" 
 the plea is recorded and the Judge passes sentence. If 
 " Not Guilty " a Jury is called to try the case as
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 125 
 
 between the Crown and the prisoner, for the prisoner if 
 guilty is held to have done injury to the community by 
 committing this wrong, and the Sovereign, anxious for 
 the welfare of the people prosecutes. 
 
 This is the time for the prisoner to object to any of 
 the Jury who are to try him, for it is held that inasmuch 
 as the fate of the prisoner depends upon the men 
 composing the Jury, justice requires he should have 
 something to say in regard to the choice of them. 
 Accordingly the law gives him the right to challenge jurymen 
 them. He must do so as their names are called and can be 
 before they are sworn. He may challenge the wholecHALLENGED. 
 array or list of jurors on the ground of some partiality 
 or default on the part of the Sheriff ; or he may challenge 
 jurors singly, either on the ground of incompetency if, 
 for instance they be aliens, or otherwise unqualified by 
 law, or of bias, or partiality, or of infamy through having 
 been convicted of some crime ; and in each case the 
 ground of objection, must, if required, be shown to the 
 Court. In cases of capital charges the prisoner may 
 challenge thirty-five jurors peremptorily — that is, 
 without giving any reason. The King as prosecutor, 
 however, must show his reason for challenging in all 
 cases, unless twelve jurors can be found in Court to 
 whom he does not object. 
 
 Twelve accepted jurors having been sworn, the case 
 proceeds. The Crown will be represented by a barrister, 
 so called because he is admitted by one of the Inns of 
 Court to plead causes at the bar. Acting in this capacity 
 he would be styled counsel for the prosecution, and 
 might be nominated by the person who actually 
 prosecutes in the name of the Crown. If not, he would 
 be appointed by the Court and paid by the county. It 
 is his duty to explain the matter of the indictment to 
 the jury, and then to examine the witnesses in support 
 of it. All this must be done in the presence of the 
 prisoner, who is at liberty to conduct his own defence, 
 or be represented by a barrister as he chooses. He must 
 do either one or the other, and is never allowed to do 
 both at the same time. If he be quite without means, 
 and ask for counsel, the Court commissions a barrister to 
 defend him without cost to himself ; or, if the matter
 
 126 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 be small, the Judge himself cross-examines the witnesses 
 for him, and generally sees he is treated fairly. 
 WITNESSES, The witnesses must, in all cases, speak of what they 
 have seen or know. They must not tell of what they 
 have heard, or what they suppose, or think likely, but 
 what they can certify to as a matter of fact within their 
 knowledge ; nor may they relate any conversation except 
 such as occurred with, or in the presence of the prisoner. 
 This is but fair to the prisoner, because he could not in 
 reason be asked to procure evidence to contradict that 
 of which he could have no knowledge, and it is clear 
 that, if descriptions of conversations other than those 
 which occurred in the presence of the prisoner were 
 allowed, they would soon lead beyond the matter in 
 dispute and make the case interminable. 
 
 In the case supposed, there would probably be 
 evidence of the prisoner's having received the money, of 
 his having spent, or had in his possession more money 
 than was usual ^vith him, and evidence also that the 
 money he received was not paid over to the proper 
 person. Now, perhaps the person who paid the money 
 to the prisoner might have heard, upon the day after he 
 had paid it, that it was not paid over to the person for 
 whom it w^as intended ; but, although this might be 
 perfectly true, and although the witness might be 
 perfectly convinced of its truth, he could not give 
 evidence of the fact, because he would be speaking 
 only from hearsay. Much less would he be allowed to 
 say how he became possessed of the infonnation. The 
 man who should have received the money from the 
 prisoner might have told him, and he would probably 
 be able to give a full account of all that passed between 
 them. This, however, would be no evidence against the 
 prisoner ; it would be evidence only of the opinion of 
 the two persons conversing. If, however, the statement 
 in question was made to the witness in the presence of 
 the prisoner, his description of what occurred would be 
 evidence, and what the prisoner said in reply would also 
 be evidence. 
 
 The Court will allow nothing but personal knowledge 
 of facts to be spoken against a prisoner, nor does the 
 law allow the prisoner himself to be questioned against
 
 CROSS- 
 EXAMINA- 
 TION AND 
 
 TION. 
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 127 
 
 his will. He may, however, by recent statutes, tender 
 himself as a witness on his own behalf in certain 
 cases. 
 
 As soon as a witness has completed his statement as 
 against the prisoner, it is open to the counsel for the 
 defence, or the prisoner if there be no counsel, to cross- 
 examine him, and, thereafter, he may be re-examined, 
 but only upon matter respecting which he has been cross- 
 examined. He may then be again cross-examined, but R^-examina- 
 only respecting points upon which questions were asked 
 in re-examination, and in this way the examination 
 may be continued, but no fresh matter may be imported 
 into it except by the Judge or Jury, who may ask what 
 questions they please to elicit the truth. It has been 
 said that " some barristers who are more intent on 
 their own credit for ability than on keeping to what is 
 right and fair, will sometimes endeavour to bewilder 
 and perplex an honest witness, or to intimidate and, as 
 it is called, ' browbeat ' him by harsh language or by 
 charging him with bad motives. It is the duty of the 
 Judge, whenever anything of this kind is attempted, to 
 rebuke and check it." 
 
 All the witnesses for the prosecution having been 
 examined, it is then competent for the prisoner or his 
 counsel to address the jury and to call witnesses to 
 show he is not guilty by disproving, if possible, what 
 the other witnesses have said. And when these 
 witnesses have been cross-examined, the counsel for the 
 defence reviews the evidence and does his best to show 
 the weakness of the case against the prisoner ; after 
 which the counsel for the Crown does his best to show 
 the strength of his case and the weakness of the defence. 
 The Judge then sums up the whole case, pointing out 
 to the jury the most weighty pieces of evidence, where 
 contradictions are evident, and where they are only 
 seeming differences ; but in all cases leaving the jury to 
 say which of the two conflicting statements is true. 
 The Judge will also explain the law by which the jury 
 must be guided, and he may comment upon the 
 demeanour of the witnesses and express an opinion as 
 to which of them is most worthy of credence, but in all 
 this he will be merely advising the jury ; the decision
 
 128 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 rests with them, and it must be their own decision 
 absolutely. 
 
 If the case is clear, the facts well proven, and no 
 doubt exist in the minds of any of the jurors, they may 
 at once return their verdict. If, however, any among 
 them doubt, they retire to deliberate. For this purpose 
 they are given into the charge of an usher of the Court, 
 who is sworn to keep them in safe custody, and not to 
 allow them food, fire, nor candle light, nor to suffer 
 anyone to speak to them, nor even to speak to them 
 himself, save to ask whether they have agreed on their 
 verdict. The usher so sworn conducts them to a jury 
 room and locks them in until they have agreed on 
 their verdict, which must be unanimous, and, therefore, 
 in some cases not easily arrived at. Sometimes juries 
 have been locked up the whole night without agreeing, 
 but this is seldom done, for when it is found there is 
 little hope of their agreeing, or when fears are entertained 
 of the health of any of them, the Judge may dismiss 
 them, and the prisoner has to be tried again. 
 
 When the jury have agreed, they are conducted into 
 Court by the usher in charge of them, who is questioned 
 touching his observance of the oath he took, and then 
 the Clerk of the Court calls upon the jury to say 
 whether the prisoner at the bar is guilty or not guilty. 
 The foreman of the jury answers, and if he says " Not 
 Guilty," the prisoner is free, if " Guilty," the Judge 
 proceeds to pass sentence according to law. 
 
 In Scotland the jury are allowed to return a verdict of 
 " Not Proven," when they feel they have not sufficient 
 evidence of the prisoner's guilt to justify a conviction, 
 but yet are not satisfied of his innocence, so that when 
 in Scotland the jury return a verdict of "Not Guilty," 
 it means the jury think him innocent, while in England 
 it may mean only that they are not satisfied of his 
 guilt. 
 
 A verdict of " Guilty " transforms a man into a 
 convicted criminal, but the verdict is that of the jury, 
 twelve free men, perhaps of the convict's own station 
 in life ; it is not the verdict of the Judge, nor the 
 Sovereign, nor any person in permanent authority ; and 
 throughout the trial has been conducted on lines
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 
 
 129 
 
 CIVIL 
 ACTIONS. 
 
 favourable to the prisoner. Nor is the punishment 
 accorded that he may suffer. Distress of body and mind 
 are inevitable consequences of punishment, but it is not 
 with that object, primarily, that punishment is inflicted. 
 If it were so, the community would be guilty of 
 punishing from feelings of revenge. The first object 
 in view in the administration of criminal justice is the 
 protection of the community, and it is because the 
 prospect of punishment deters some from evil courses, 
 who would otherwise do criminal acts, that punishment 
 is inflicted. Punishment is also designed to reform 
 those upon whom it falls, but this must ever be a 
 subordinate object, and cannot be persisted in at the 
 risk of sacrificing the chief end of punishment — namely, 
 prevention. 
 
 The course of procedure in the conduct of a civil 
 action differs according to the nature of the action, and 
 the Court in which it is tried ; but, generally, the 
 plaintiff bringing the action states his case, or has it 
 stated by his counsel, who also examines his witnesses 
 in support of it. The defendant, or his counsel, 
 states his case and examines his witnesses, and 
 the Judge, if the trial be conducted before a Judge, 
 or the Chairman, if the case be such as comes within 
 the jurisdiction of the Court of Quarter Sessions, reviews 
 the whole of the evidence in giving the jury charge of 
 the matter. The jury then returns a verdict upon the 
 evidence, and the Judge or Chairman gives judgment 
 accordingly. In a civil action both parties stand before 
 the Court on equal terms ; neither of them is in peril, 
 therefore favour is shown to neither. 
 
 Should a suitor feel he has not had justice done him, power of 
 he has, in most cases, the opportunity of appealing to appeal. 
 some Court other than that in which the action was 
 tried. The Court to which he appeals is determined 
 by the nature of the action and the place where it was 
 tried. 
 
 Formerly, suitors had the opportunity of making 
 numerous appeals, so that a rich suitor could tire out a 
 poor one by carrying his case from Court to Court ; 
 but the tendency of recent legislation has been to 
 restrict the opportunities of appeal, and wherever
 
 I30 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 possible, without doing injustice, to take away the 
 power of appeal altogether. 
 
 Appeals from India and the Colonies are all made to 
 the Sovereign in Council, and are referred to the Judicial 
 Committee of the Privy Council, who hear the argu- 
 ments and the evidence in the case, and thereafter 
 advise the Sovereign what decision to come to. The 
 Sovereign, in accordance with that advice, passes 
 judgment. The Judicial Committee of the Privy 
 Council consists of such Privy Councillors as are learned 
 in the law, and includes all ex-Lord Chancellors, and 
 such of the Judges as may be Privy Councillors. The 
 theory is that this appeal is made to the Sovereign in 
 person, and that the Sovereign gives judgment ; but 
 it has never, w^ithin recent years, been known that the 
 Sovereign has personally interfered to influence the 
 decision in any cases. The conclusion come to by the 
 Privy Councillors who happen to consider the petition 
 is always acted on by the Sovereign. 
 
 A convicted criminal has no appeal from the verdict 
 of the jury ; he may, however, appeal against the 
 Judge's interpretation of the law, when directing the 
 jury, to the Court for Crown Cases Reserved, which 
 generally consists of some Judges other than the Judge 
 whose decision is appealed from. If he can prove the 
 Judge wrong, the conviction is quashed. The sentence, 
 however, may be commuted, or wholly remitted by the 
 Sovereign, on the advice of the Home Secretary, even 
 though the prisoner be convicted according to law. It 
 THE KING s is the King's prerogative to pardon, but it should be 
 PREROGA- noticed that the prerogative is never exercised without 
 TiVE OF some reason. If the reason is bad, or not clear upon 
 PARDON, the face of it, the expediency of the act may be called 
 in question in Parliament, and the Home Secretary, in 
 that case, would have to answer for the advice given 
 to the Sovereign. The King can remit fines as well as 
 punishment ; but, in the case of a civil action the 
 Sovereign has no power to disturb the verdict. What- 
 ever the jury award as damages to be paid by the 
 defendant to the plaintiff must be paid together with 
 the costs which may be allowed, unless the plaintiff 
 forgive him.
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 131 
 
 There is a further limit to the Royal prerogative of 
 pardon. The Sovereign cannot pardon a breach of the 
 Habeas Corpus Act, in respect of that clause which 
 forbids the imprisonment of any person, beyond the 
 seas, without trial ; nor a common nuisance committed 
 by one subject against another ; nor an offence against 
 a penal statute, after information has been brought, 
 because the informer has acquired a private property 
 in his part of the penalty. 
 
 If a man be found guilty of an offence by a jury, and 
 facts afterwards come to light which prove him to be 
 innocent, no matter how grave the charge against him 
 may be, the verdict cannot be reversed, and there is no 
 power by which he can be formally declared innocent ; 
 the error can be corrected only by the Sovereign granting 
 a free pardon. 
 
 The anomaly of a man receiving a free pardon for an 
 offence which everyone knows he has never committed 
 is so strange that, at first sight, it seems impossible to 
 justify it. It can, however, be explained upon the basis 
 of the fact that the law has always regarded the verdict 
 of the jury in criminal cases as unquestionably right 
 and unalterable. If powers were given to the Crown to 
 reverse the verdict of the jury in cases ^vhere the 
 innocence of the persons convicted was subsequently 
 proven, the same power could not be withheld in the case 
 of a person wrongfully acquitted in the estimation of 
 the Sovereign. The Sovereign's power of review does 
 not go further back than the verdict of the jury, but as 
 it is almost impossible to place before the same jury as 
 passed the verdict the new facts which have come to 
 light, it is held to be wiser, and certainly it is more 
 expeditious, to remit the penalty by a so-called free 
 pardon. The sentence, too, may be commuted to a 
 single day's imprisonment, if the Sovereign be so 
 advised. 
 
 The Court of Probate, which decides all cases of court of 
 disputed wills, and also disposes of all suits in trobate, 
 matrimonial causes, sits in London only. It forms with admiralty 
 the High Court of Admiralty one of the divisions of the and 
 High Court of Justice. divorce. 
 
 The power to annul marriages and otherwise to deal
 
 132 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 with disputes between married persons was conferred on 
 this Court by an Act passed in the year 1857. 
 
 The High Court of Admiralty also sits in London, 
 and decides all cases arising on the high seas. It 
 formerly had exclusive jurisdiction in respect of all acts 
 done upon the coast if beyond low water mark, and of 
 all acts done on the water between low and high water 
 mark ; but the Courts of Common Law took cognizance 
 of the offences committed on the strand when the tide 
 was out, but this exclusive jurisdiction is now theo- 
 retically at an end. All cases of seamen's wages, 
 however, collision of ships, disputed ownership of 
 vessels, charges for pilotage, salvage of wreck, and 
 similar matters, come within the jurisdiction of the 
 Court of Admiralty, and justify its continuance as a 
 special department of the High Court of Justice. 
 
 When considering these cases the Judge is always 
 
 assisted by two Elder Bretheren of the Trinity House, 
 
 who sit on the Bench with him, and aid him on nautical 
 
 points. 
 
 COURTS Courts Martial are composed of officers of the Army 
 
 MAKTiAL. or Nav}'^, and sit for the trial of alleged breaches of 
 
 discipline on the part of officers or men. They are 
 
 authorised by the Crown, under the provisions of the 
 
 Mutiny Act, and the Marine Mutiny Act, passed each 
 
 year. The officers of the service not only sit at the 
 
 Court, but also give the verdict as a jury. Courts 
 
 Martial are assisted in the conduct of business by the 
 
 Judge Advocate-General, or his deputy, or one appointed 
 
 •' ^ bv the President of the Court to act in his stead, who 
 
 ADVOCATh- .■{ J J • .L O ^ • i. X 1 
 
 sits as assessor, and advises the L/Ourt on points 01 law. 
 
 The Mutiny Act, however, provides that nothing 
 
 contained in it shall exempt any officer or soldier from 
 
 being proceeded against in the ordinary Courts of Law 
 
 for felony or misdemeanour, for the object of authorising 
 
 Courts ISIartial is simply to secure the more ready 
 
 punishment of breaches of discipline. 
 
 MINOR Besides the Superior Courts for the trial of graver 
 
 COURTS, matters, Courts have been established for the more 
 
 speedy and less costly settlement of civil actions. All 
 
 claims for small debts are tried in these Courts, which 
 
 are very numerous, and sit at short intervals. The
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 133 
 
 matters coming before them may be tried either by the 
 Judge alone, or by a jury at the option of the suitors. 
 The jurisdiction of these Courts has been lately extended, 
 and suits may now be decided in them which formerly 
 could only be tried in the Court of Chancery. The 
 County Courts have an Admiralty jurisdiction, and the 
 County Court Judges also sit as Judges in Bankruptcy. 
 
 The Courts of Bankruptcy are resorted to by persons 
 who cannot pay their debts, and who cannot make an 
 arrangement with their creditors. The chief point to 
 which the Judges of these Courts direct their attention is 
 to see that the bankrupt makes a full disclosure of all 
 his property for the benefit of his creditors ; to afford 
 him relief if he has become bankrupt by reason of 
 misfortune and to delay relief if his bankruptcy is the 
 result of reckless trading or dishonest practices on his 
 part. Some traders have so little regard for the interests 
 of others that they will buy goods upon credit for which 
 they have no prospect of ever being able to pay, and 
 will sell those goods for less than they cost, in order 
 to provide themselves with money for some present 
 necessity. This is morally as dishonest as theft, and it 
 is against practices such as this that the Judges in 
 Bankruptcy are appointed to protect the honest trader. 
 
 The office of Coroner is of great antiquity, and was the 
 
 once as distinguished as that of the Sheriff. As late as coroner. 
 Edward III. none but knights were appointed to the 
 office, but, in these days, its duties being almost confined 
 to enquiring as to the cause of any sudden or violent 
 death, it is usual to appoint lawyers or medical men. 
 And since the Coroner is appointed in the interest of 
 the community, and for the protection of those in the 
 district, he has, from the earliest times, been elected by 
 the freeholders of the County Court in answer to a writ 
 from the Sovereign to the Sheriff. He is appointed for 
 life, but may be removed by the Crown for neglect of 
 duty. There are usually four Coroners in each county, but 
 in several cases additional Coroners have been appointed 
 on a representation being made by the Magistrates to 
 the Lord Chancellor that they were necessary. The 
 duties of the Coroner are set forth in a statute passed 
 in the fourth year of the Reign of Edward I., which is
 
 134 
 
 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 MASTER OF 
 THE ROLLS 
 
 DOMESDAY 
 BOOK. 
 
 THE KING 
 REMEM- 
 BRANCER, 
 
 Still the law of the land, and which says, among other 
 things, " the Coroner, upon information, shall go to the 
 places where there are any slain, or suddenly dead, or 
 wounded, and shall forthwith command four of the next 
 town, or five, or six, to appear before him in such a 
 place ; and when they are come thither, the Coroner, 
 upon the oath of them, shall enquire into this matter." 
 The jury summoned by the Coroner in these days, 
 however, numbers at least twelve. 
 
 In case of death on the high seas, the inquest is held 
 by the Admiralty Coroner, who is appointed by the 
 First Lord of the Admiralty, to whom the Coroner 
 makes a return of the results of his inquisitions. 
 
 The Coroner sometimes acts in the place of the Sheriff, 
 in cases, for instance, when the personal interest of the 
 latter in the matter to be administered might give rise 
 to a suspicion of partiality. 
 
 The Master of the Rolls, besides holding office as a 
 Chancery Judge, is also Keeper of the Public Records, 
 or guardian of the national archives, of which the 
 Domesday Book may be regarded as the most ancient 
 and the most notorious. Generally they may be said 
 to consist of contemporaneous statements, the proceedings 
 in the higher Courts of Law, and of ancient but 
 authentic memorials of all branches of the Government, 
 constitutional, judicial, parliamentary, and fiscal, from 
 which historians are able to gather together the history 
 of our progress as a people during at least eight centuries. 
 These records are written upon parchment from nine 
 to eighteen inches wide. In some cases the various skins 
 lay one upon another, the whole being fastened together 
 at the top by thongs, and in others they are sewn 
 together, the top of one being upon the bottom of the 
 other, so as to form a continuous roll, after the custom 
 of the Jews. The Domesday Book, however, is formed 
 of two volumes bound in the same shape as an ordinary 
 publication of the present day. The first volume 
 consists of 383 folio pages, and the second of 450 pages 
 half the size. 
 
 The King's Remembrancer is appointed to remind the 
 Commissioners of the Treasury of such things as are to 
 be done for the Sovereign's benefit. Before the alienation
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 
 
 135 
 
 CITY 
 REMEM- 
 BRANCER. 
 
 from the Sovereign of the hereditary dues, this officer 
 occupied a far more important position than he does 
 now. He is, however, still associated with the Central 
 Office of the Supreme Court, in its position as a Court 
 of Revenue, and concerns himself in certain actions in 
 that Court between private persons, on the plea that 
 the plaintiff is less able to pay his debts due to the 
 Crown, in the shape of taxes, on account of the alleged 
 wrong done him by the defendant to the action. He 
 also transacts much of the formal business connected 
 with the Court of Exchequer, and in his office registers 
 all transfers of land to the Crown. His salary is £2,000 
 a year. 
 
 There is also a Remembrancer of the City of London, 
 who keeps the Lord Mayor and Corporation informed of 
 all matters before Parliament and the Privy Council 
 and Treasury Boards, in which they are concerned. He 
 has to give daily attendance in Parliament, to examine 
 all the Bills presented in either House, and to report on 
 such as are likely to affect the interest or privileges of 
 the city. For this purpose the officers of both Houses 
 are required to give him facilities of admission, and for 
 purposes of identification by them he sometimes wears 
 a medal bearing the city arms. He also makes the 
 necessary arrangements for the presentation of addresses 
 from the City to the Sovereign, or Houses of Parliament. 
 Revising Barristers are officers appointed to hold 
 Courts in the autumn throughout the country, for the BARRISTERS, 
 purpose of revising the lists of voters for members of 
 Parliament. If their decisions are appealed from, the 
 High Court decides the disputed point. 
 
 The title of King's Counsel is an honourable distinc- 
 tion conferred upon Barristers who are deemed worthy 
 of it by the Lord Chancellor. By being nominated 
 King's Counsel, they are called within the bar, and are 
 supposed to be retained in behalf of the Crown in all 
 cases in which the State is concerned. By special license, 
 which is seldom refused, they may, however, appear for 
 suitors as against the Crown. When practising in the 
 Courts they are called " Leaders " and have associated 
 with them junior members of the bar, who prepare the 
 cases for their consideration. 
 
 REVISING 
 
 KING S 
 COUNSEL.
 
 136 
 
 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 SERGEA.NT- 
 AT-LAW. 
 
 COURT OF 
 SESSIONS. 
 
 The title of Sergeant-at-Law is an honourable 
 distinction or degree conferred upon Barristers, which 
 once carried with it substantial privileges ; but the order 
 is now abolished. 
 
 The jurisdiction of the Judges of the Superior Courts 
 at Westminster is confined to England and Wales. In 
 Ireland, justice is dispensed in accordance with a system 
 almost identical with that of England, but the chief 
 Court of Scotland is known as the Court of Sessions, 
 and consists of the Lord President, the Lord Justice 
 Clerk, and eleven ordinary Judges. The basis of Scotch 
 law is that of the old Roman la\v, and the procedure 
 is wholly different from that of the English Courts. 
 There is, however, power of appeal from both the Irish 
 and Scotch Courts to the House of Lords. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 NON-POLITICAL DEPARTMENTS. 
 
 All the Departments of the State described in previous 
 chapters, are controlled by Ministers whose appointment 
 depends upon political considerations. There are 
 numerous other Departments whose chiefs hold their 
 positions without any regard to their political opinions, 
 and retain them during good behaviour in the same way 
 as those appointed to administer justice. Many of them, 
 however, are more or less subject to one or others of the 
 Political Departments. 
 
 The most ancient of these Departments, and that 
 THE TRINITY which has the most extensive jurisdiction, is the Trinity 
 HOUSE. House, recently made subject, in matters of finance, 
 to the Board of Trade. The Trinity House was formally 
 established by Sir Thomas Spert in 1514, and in- 
 corporated by Royal Charter, granted by Henry VIII.
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 137 
 
 in the following year, but it is believed to have existed 
 long before as an association for the protection of 
 maritime interests. The Charter granted by Henry VIII. 
 gave it authority to license and control pilots, and to 
 erect beacons, lighthouses and buoys along the coast for 
 the guidance of mariners approaching our shores, duties 
 which the Corporation discharges to this day. 
 
 The earliest records of sea marks speak only of buoys 
 and beacons in the River Tees and the Yarmouth Roads, 
 and watch towers, surmounted by burning coal, for the 
 guidance of ships entering the harbour. The earliest 
 record of a sea light for the guidance of passing ships is 
 as late as the year 1600, when two lighthouses were 
 erected by the Trinity House at Caister, in Norfolk. 
 For the maintenance of these lights and buoys the 
 Trinity House has power to levy dues, regulated by Act 
 of Parliament, from ships entering the ports. 
 
 The affairs of the Trinity House are managed by a 
 Court composed of the Master, four Wardens, eight 
 Assistants, and eighteen Elder Bretheren, making in all 
 thirty-one. Some of the Elder Bretheren are men brought 
 up to the Maritime Service, the remainder are persons 
 of distinction, members of the Royal Family, Ministers 
 of State, and Naval Officers of high rank. The official 
 acts of the Corporation are done by the Master's 
 Deputy, who is elected annually from among the Elder 
 Bretheren. 
 
 A number of Commissions have been constituted from 
 time to time by the authority of Acts of Parliament for 
 the purpose of carrying out the intention of the 
 Legislature. Among these are the Civil Service civil 
 Commissioners, who examine all candidates for junior service 
 positions in the Civil Service, and who grant certificates com- 
 of competency to such as satisfy these requirements, missioners. 
 The Commissioners are two in number, and they act 
 under an Order in Council made in 1855, which 
 prescribes the rules by which they shall conduct their 
 examinations. 
 
 The Commissioners for the Reduction of the National f'^^^^'^'^' 
 Debt Include the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the *^' ^" 
 Master of the Rolls, the Speaker of the House of ^'^^tional 
 Commons, the Governor and Deputy Governor of the i>'i'^r.
 
 138 
 
 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 BOARD OF 
 
 INLAND 
 REVENUE. 
 
 BOARD OF 
 CUSTOMS. 
 
 COMMIS- 
 SIONERS OF 
 WOODS AND 
 
 FORESTS. 
 
 CHARITY 
 COM- 
 MISSIONERS 
 
 ENDOWED 
 SCHOOL COM 
 MISSIONERS 
 
 Bank of England, and the Accountant-General of the 
 Court of Chancery, whose duty it is to keep account of 
 all money paid into the Court by suitors. They are 
 represented by the Comptroller-General, who transacts 
 the business of the Department. 
 
 The collections of Excise Duties on articles manu- 
 factured in this country, the issue of postage, receipt, or 
 legal stamps, and the collections of ordinary taxes is 
 managed by the Board of Inland Revenue, who act 
 under the Chancellor of the Exchequer. It consists of a 
 Chairman and Deputy Chairman and four Com- 
 missioners, and sits at Somerset House. This Board 
 controls all the collectors of taxes throughout the 
 country, and prosecutes in cases where persons attempt 
 to evade payment. 
 
 The Board of Customs consists of six Commissioners, 
 who, assisted by a large staff of clerks, manage the 
 receipt of duties on exports and imports, and the 
 payment of drawbacks, in cases where the duty has to 
 be returned. Every seaport has its Custom House, but 
 the Chief Commissioners sit at the Custom House near 
 the Tower of London. 
 
 The Commissioners of Woods and Forests manage 
 the Royal forests and woodlands and other Crown 
 property, as distinguished from Royal palaces and public 
 buildings, which are under the First Commissioner of 
 Works, a political officer. They are subject to the Lords 
 of the Treasury, to whom they have to submit proposals 
 to sell or purchase land. 
 
 The Charity Commissioners are appointed b}?^ statute 
 passed in 1853. They have power to permit property 
 held by charities to be used in a way different from that 
 originally designed by those who established the charity. 
 They could, for instance, allow persons holding money, 
 in trust, to provide pensions for certain persons, to build 
 a hospital with that money, or endow a school. 
 
 The Endowed School Commissioners, acting under 
 statute, have power to alter the constitution of endowed 
 schools within certain limits, and to vary the application 
 of the endowment possessed by such schools in a manner 
 different from that designed by their founders. But the 
 proposals of the Commissioners must lie upon the table
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 139 
 
 of the Houses of Parliament for a given time before 
 they can come into operation, and if objected to by 
 either House, they cannot have the force of law. 
 
 There is also an Ecclesiastical Commission which ecclesi- 
 is empowered to manage certain property belonging to astical 
 the Church of England, and to re-adjust the incomes commission- 
 of those holding offices in the Church. The chief ers. 
 
 dignitaries of the State are included in the Commission, 
 but the business is chiefly managed by two paid 
 Commissioners. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII.— CONVOCATION. 
 
 Convocation is the assembly of the Representative 
 Clergy of the Established Church of England. There 
 is a separate Convocation for each Province : that for 
 the Province of Canterbury consists of two Houses, that coNVOCA- 
 for York of only one. The Upper House of Convocation tion. 
 of the Province of Canterbury is composed of the 
 Archbishops and Bishops, and the Lower House, of the 
 Deans, the Archdeacons and one Proctor for every 
 Cathedral Chapter, together with two of the clergy 
 returned by their fellows from every diocese, who are 
 also called Proctors. Convocation is summoned by the 
 Sovereign's writ, and is called together by Royal 
 Proclamation each year soon after the assembling of 
 Parliament. Formerly it took part in the making of 
 laws for the regulation of Ecclesiastical matters under 
 special license from the Sovereign, but it now only 
 deliberates and recommends. 
 
 The voting in Convocation is conducted and recorded 
 by a prolocutor, elected for the purpose ; and in the 
 Convocation of the Province of Canterbury the Prolocutor 
 is the means of communication between the Upper and 
 Lower House. 
 
 K
 
 I40 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 COUNTY AND 
 
 PARISH 
 
 COUNCILS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV.— LOCAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 In the preceding chapters we have dealt only with the 
 Imperial administration of the law. In this chapter we 
 purpose reviewing the machinery by which the local 
 affairs of the country are administered. 
 
 In the term " Local Governing Bodies " we include 
 all those entrusted with the management of affairs 
 within a limited area ; they are very numerous, but the 
 chief of them may be classified under four heads ; the 
 County and Parish Councils, elected bodies empowered 
 to regulate the affairs of suburban and rural districts ; 
 the Corporations of cities and boroughs ; the Com- 
 missioners entrusted with the management of affairs in 
 unincorporated towns ; the Boards of Guardians and 
 Overseers of the Poor, who administer the Poor Law. 
 
 The City of London proper, which does not include the 
 whole of the metropolis, but only such portions of it as 
 wrere formerly within the City walls, is governed in a 
 manner altogether peculiar to itself. It has numerous 
 charters, conferring upon it privileges in return for signal 
 services done to the State, or in expectation of gaining 
 the goodwill of the citizens. London was prosperous 
 before the time of William I. ; the citizens were free 
 men, and enjoyed " all the legal rights and privileges 
 •which in that age distinguished men of the first rank ; 
 they were also " governed by their own Magistrates, 
 and amenable only to their own Courts." The Conqueror, 
 anxious to conciliate so powerful a body, lost no time 
 in getting the citizens to his side ; and we read of his 
 granting them a charter, which is still kept among the 
 City Archives in the Guildhall. It consists of a small 
 slip of parchment declaring that the citizens should be 
 held " law worthy as they w^ere in King Edward's 
 days," which, according to high authority, meant that 
 they should be deemed worthy to enjoy all the privileges 
 their laws and customs conferred upon them. His
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 
 
 141 
 
 successors gave fresh charters from time to time ; King 
 John gave no less than five ; and although attempts 
 have been made to cancel them the citizens have always 
 steadily resisted, and generally succeeded in retaining 
 their privileges, so that the government of the City is 
 founded in the present day upon precisely the same 
 leading principles as characterised it in the days of 
 King Alfred. 
 
 The governing body of the City is described as the 
 Lord Mayor, Aldermen and Commons of the City of 
 London in Common Council assembled. There are 
 twenty-six Aldermen, including the Lord Mayor, or one 
 for each ward, and 240 Common Councilmen, making 
 266 in all. Aldermen are elected for life, and are by 
 virtue of their office City Magistrates. Only freemen of 
 the City who pay rates to the amount of thirty shillings 
 per annum take part in their election, which must be 
 held within fourteen days after a vacancy has occurred. 
 A person elected to the office of Alderman is liable to a 
 fine of £500 if he refuse to serve, but he is excused on 
 his declaring he is not worth £30,000. Aldermen sit as 
 Justices at the Mansion House with the Lord Mayor, 
 and at Guildhall. 
 
 The freemen of each of the twenty-six wards also 
 elect representatives from among their number at 
 periodical wardmotes or ward meetings to serve in the 
 Common Council. The number returned by each ward, 
 which are in some cases divided into precincts for election 
 purposes, varies from four to seventeen, but the number 
 does not now correspond with the wealth or population 
 of the ward. A freeman elected Common Councilman 
 would be subject to fine and disfranchisement if he 
 refused to serve, but as the distinction is much coveted, 
 few decline it. 
 
 The Lord Mayor of London is elected on the 29th of 
 September in each year from among the Aldermen who 
 have served the office of Sheriff. Two Aldermen are 
 selected by the liverymen of the City — members of one 
 of the City Guilds who are freemen — assembled in 
 Common Hall, and submitted to the Court of Aldermen. 
 The senior of the two is usually selected for the office. 
 If he should refuse to serve he must pay a fine of £1,000. 
 
 COMMON 
 COUNCIL. 
 
 LORD 
 
 MAYOR.
 
 142 
 
 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 CITY 
 CHAMBER- 
 LAIN. 
 SHERIFFS. 
 
 Having been elected, he is presented to the Lord 
 Chancellor, who, in behalf of the Sovereign, signifies the 
 Crown's approval of the choice made by the freemen. 
 On the 9th of November following, the day upon which 
 he enters upon his year of office, he goes in state to 
 Westminster, and is presented by the Recorder to the 
 Judges of the High Court, who receive him in their full 
 robes of office, and require from him certain formal 
 undertakings respecting the levying of dues in the City. 
 The King's Remembrancer is present on these 
 occasions, and conducts the proceedings. The emoluments 
 of the office of Lord Mayor approach £8,000, but the 
 holder of the office on account of his sumptuous 
 hospitality, usually spends at least half as much more 
 during his year of office. 
 
 The duties of the Lord Mayor are numerous. Besides 
 sitting daily at the Mansion House as Chief Magistrate 
 of the City, he presides over the Courts of Aldermen, 
 Common Council and Common Hall ; he is First 
 Commissioner of the Central Criminal Court, and 
 Chief Coroner and Escheator, or receiver of forfeited 
 rights, in the City and Southw^ark. He also sits as 
 Judge in the Court of Hustings, and other Courts 
 peculiar to the City. On the demise of the Crown he 
 is summoned to the Privy Council, which declares 
 allegiance to the new Sovereign ; at the Coronation he 
 acts as chief butler and receives for his fee a gold cup. 
 
 To constitute a Court of Common Council there must 
 be not less than forty members present, including at 
 least two Aldermen and the Lord Mayor. The Court 
 has unlimited power of applying the revenues of the 
 City, and full legislative authority in all municipal 
 matters, as long as it does not run counter to any Act 
 of Parliament. 
 
 The City Chamberlain, who is also elected to the 
 office, acts as the banker of the Corporation and 
 administers its funds. 
 
 The two Sheriffs are also elected by the freemen, and 
 are bound to serve, if they hav'e not done so already, on 
 pain of a fine of £400 and 40 marks. The election is 
 held on Midsummer Day. The Sheriffs always attend 
 the Lord Mayor on State occasions, and at every Court
 
 AND GOVERNMENT. 
 
 143 
 
 of Aldermen ; they are the returning officers for the 
 City, and present the petitions of the Corporation to the 
 House of Commons at the bar in person. They see to 
 the execution of the law within the City, and control 
 the City prisons. 
 
 Not only are the Justices of the City elected by the 
 freemen, but all the chief officers of justice are appointed, 
 either by the freemen themselves, or their representatives 
 in Common Council assembled. As we have already the 
 stated, the Recorder is appointed for life by the Court of recorder. 
 Aldermen, subject only to the approval of the Lord 
 Chancellor, in behalf of the Crown for the purpose of 
 administering Justice. Besides presiding in the City 
 Courts, the Recorder represents the City, when heard by 
 counsel before either House of Parliament. He also 
 furnishes a report to the Privy Council of all persons 
 convicted of capital crimes at the Central Criminal 
 Court, and afterwards attends to take the pleasure of 
 the Crown upon the matters in question. He thereafter 
 makes out the warrants for the execution or reprieve of 
 the criminals. 
 
 The Common Sergeant, the Judge of the Sheriff's 
 Court, and Secondaries or Deputies of that Judge, are 
 elected by the Common Council ; indeed no one 
 adminsters the law in the City of London but those 
 elected by the freemen, or by their representatives, except 
 such of the Judges of the Superior Courts as may attend 
 each session of the Central Criminal Court to try the 
 more serious cases. This is a privilege possessed by no 
 other city or borough in the kingdom. 
 
 The control of the police, the keeping of the highways, 
 the lighting of the City, its improvement, its bridges 
 and its markets, are all controlled by the Court of 
 Common Council, who also administer its property, 
 and impose such rates and taxes as are necessary. 
 
 The City of London is also divided into ninety-eight 
 parishes, which form the City of London Union, and 
 these parishes elect lor guardians of the poor. 
 
 The districts forming the metropolitan area outside london 
 the City of London proper are controlled by an elected countv 
 body known as the London County Council, which is council. 
 charged with the duty of superintending the drainage of 
 
 THE 
 
 COMMON 
 
 SER GEANT. 
 
 CENTRAL 
 
 CRIMINAL 
 
 COURT.
 
 144 THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION 
 
 the entire metropolis and carrying out the larger works 
 
 for its improvement. It numbers 137 members, of 
 
 whom nineteen are aldermen. The 118 councillors are 
 
 elected by the ratepayers for three years and the 
 
 aldermen are elected by the councillors. Ten or nine 
 
 aldermen retire every three years alternately. The 
 
 Council has power to deal with sanitary affairs, the 
 
 licensing of places of amusement, and acts generally as 
 
 the " local authority " of the metropolis, except that 
 
 it has no control over the Metropolitan Police. 
 
 METROPOLi- The various parishes of the metropolis outside the 
 
 TAN City proper have also their own corporate body, 
 
 COUNCILS, consisting of a Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors, who 
 
 administer such of the affairs of their district as are not 
 
 within the province of the County Council. 
 
 THE The police of the metropolis is managed by a separate 
 
 POLICE COM- Commission, having a chief office in Scotland Yard, 
 
 MissiONERS. and is under the control of the Home Secretary. 
 
 Numerous other cities and towns throughout the 
 kingdom have acquired the dignity of incorporation 
 by Royal Charter, and some of them retain peculiar 
 privileges under those charters to this day. Others have 
 become incorporated, upon the petition of the ratepayers, 
 under the provision of an Act of Parliament passed in 
 the year 1835. 
 T,o,^^.,x,,-TAi The Corporations of provincial towns consist of the 
 
 PROVINCIAL -- ,*.,. 1/-. -11 /^ i-ir 
 
 CORPORA- ^I^yor, the Aldermen and Councillors. Une-third ot 
 TIONS their number to be Aldermen during their term of office, 
 and one-half of these Aldermen who have been longest 
 in office retire every three years. The Mayors are elected 
 by the Councillors annually from the whole body. 
 Generally speaking, these bodies have control of the 
 borough funds and the local police, and appoint the 
 municipal officers. Free libraries and museums may be 
 maintained by Town Councils, who have power to levy 
 a limited rate for their support, and these bodies in 
 some cases supply water and gas to the townspeople 
 instead of leaving such matters to private companies. 
 Some few cities and towns are also entitled to rank as 
 counties in themselves, and in these cases their corpora- 
 tions include sheriffs. 
 
 Formerly the Justices of the Peace regulated the whole
 
 AND GOVERNMENT, 145 
 
 local affairs of the several counties where they discharged 
 their judicial functions ; but they have been superseded 
 by the establishment of County Councils, who are elected 
 by the ratepayers, and are empowered by the legislature 
 to control the county police, maintain the prisons and 
 their inmates, the lunatic asylum for paupers, county 
 bridges, and other county works. They have also to 
 provide for the cost of the administration of justice, 
 a proportion of which is repaid to them by the Crown 
 out of the Consolidated Fund. For these purposes they 
 levy rates upon all persons assessed to pay Poor Rates 
 in the count}'^ and for some purposes in the boroughs in 
 the county also. 
 
 For the purpose of giving relief to the poor, every 
 parish elects Overseers and Guardians. The duty of the 
 Overseers is to prepare and levy the Poor Rate, which, 
 when collected, is expended by the Guardians. In most 
 cases the Guardians of several parishes join together guardians 
 and form a Poor Law Union, administering the funds of the 
 of the whole district, and maintaining the poor of the poor. 
 Union in a common house. Unions also combine 
 sometimes to maintain schools for pauper children. 
 Generally the collection of the Poor Rate is joined with 
 that of all the other rates for local purposes. There 
 are 633 Unions and independent parishes.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Acceptance of 
 
 Vacates Seat 37 
 
 Accession to the Th;one 5 
 
 Act of Settlement 
 Action, Civil 
 Address to tlie Ciown 
 Administration, Tlie 
 Administn. of Justice 
 Admiralty... 
 Admiralty Court ... 
 Agriculture, Minister for 27 
 
 Alderman 141 
 
 Ambassador 19 
 
 Anglo - Saxou Govern- 
 ment 41 
 
 Appeal 129 
 
 Appealing to the Coun- 
 try 37 
 
 Appropriation Bill ... 88 
 
 Archbishop 48 
 
 Assizes 119 
 
 Associate 115 
 
 Attorney-General 31 
 
 Aula Regis 113 
 
 4 
 
 ... 129 
 ... 65 
 ... U 
 ... 105 
 22, 23 
 131 
 
 Bail 
 
 Balance of Power ... 
 
 Ballot, The 
 
 Banlci-uptcy Court... 
 
 Baron 
 
 Barrister 
 
 ... 124 
 ... 100 
 ... 54 
 ... 133 
 41, 48 
 125, 135 
 
 Bill 67, 75, 76, 83 
 
 Bishop 48 
 
 Black Kod 50 
 
 Board of Green Cloth ... 31 
 
 Board of Trade 24 
 
 Bribery 53 
 
 Budget 84 
 
 Cabinet 8, 10 
 
 Call of the House 79 
 
 Cancellaria, The 116 
 
 Candidates 52 
 
 Canvassing 53 
 
 Central Criminal Court ... 143 
 
 Ceorls 39 
 
 Chairman of Committees 50 
 Challenging a Jury ... 125 
 Cliamberlain, City ... 142 
 
 Chamberlain, Lord ... 32 
 Chancellor, Lord High ... 14 
 Chancellor of the Dudiy 
 
 of Lancaster 29 
 
 Chancellor of the Ex- 
 chequer 13 
 
 Chancery 116 
 
 Change of Government ... 37 
 Charity Commissioners ... 138 
 
 Cliief Justice 117 
 
 Chief Justiciar 113 
 
 Chiltern Hundreds ... 19 
 
 Circuits 115 
 
 Civil List 4 
 
 Civil Service Commission 137 
 
 Clerks of Parliament ... 51 
 
 Closure 69 
 
 Colonial Office 19 
 
 Commission, Royal ... 89 
 Commissioner of Works... __ 
 Commissions, Various ... 137 
 
 Committee 74 
 
 Committee of Supply ... 87 
 Committee, Select ... 75 
 
 Common Council 141 
 
 Conmion Pleas 114 
 
 Common Sergeant 143 
 
 Commons, House of 43, 51 
 Comptroller-General ... 32 
 
 Confidence 37 
 
 Constitution, Definition 
 
 of a 1 
 
 Consolidated Fund ... 87 
 
 Consul 19 
 
 Controller of the House- 
 hold 32 
 
 Convocation 139 
 
 Coroner 133 
 
 Corruption 53 
 
 Corporations, Municipal 144 
 Corporations, Provincial 144 
 County Administration... 140 
 County and Parish Coun- 
 cils 140 
 
 Courts-Martial 132 
 
 Courts of Justice, Their 
 Origin and Function ... 105 
 
 Court of Sessions 136 
 
 Council of India 20 
 
 County Courts 133 
 
 County Justices 118 
 
 Counting the House ... 80 
 
 Crinunal Trials 122 
 
 Cro\vn, The 3 
 
 Curia Regis 113 
 
 Customs, Board of ... 138 
 Gustos Rotuloruui 119 
 
 Debates, Eeiwt of ... 98 
 
 Declaring AVar 35 
 
 Deputy Speaker 50 
 
 DesjKJtism Delined ... 1 
 
 Disqualifications 54 
 
 Dissolution 100 
 
 Divisions 70 
 
 Divorce Court 131 
 
 Domesday Book 134 
 
 Duchy of Lancaster ... 29 
 Uuke 48 
 
 Eari 48 
 
 Earl Marshal 32 
 
 East India Company ... 20 
 Ecclesiastical Couunis- 
 
 sion 139 
 
 Education 16 
 
 Elections 52 
 
 Endowed Schools Com- 
 mission 138 
 
 Equity 117 
 
 Estimates 83 
 
 Evidence 126 
 
 Exchequer, Chancellor of 
 
 the 13 
 
 Exchequer, Court of ... 114 
 
 Executive 10 
 
 Excise 138 
 
 Foreign Office 
 
 19 
 
 Foreign Secretary 
 
 19 
 
 Franchise 
 
 54 
 
 Freemen of the City 
 
 141 
 
 Free Speech 
 
 99 
 
 Gaol Delivery 
 
 115 
 
 Government, The... 
 
 ■ u 
 
 Grand Jury 
 
 123 
 
 Great Charter 
 
 42 
 
 Great Seal 
 
 14 
 
 Growth of the British 
 
 
 Constitution 
 
 2 
 
 Guaixlians 
 
 145 
 
 Habeas Corpus Act 
 
 110 
 
 High Court of Justice ... 
 
 117 
 
 High Treasurer, Lord ... 
 
 13 
 
 Home Secretary 
 
 18 
 
 House of Commons 
 
 43 
 
 House of Lords 
 
 46 
 
 Idiots 
 
 14 
 
 Ignoring a Bill 
 
 123 
 
 India Office 
 
 21 
 
 India, Council of 
 
 20 
 
 Inland Revenue Offices ... 
 
 138 
 
 Ireland 
 
 31 
 
 Judge Advocate General 132 
 
 Judges 107 
 
 Jury 108, 122, 125 
 
 Justices of the Peace ... 118 
 Justice, Administration 
 
 of 105 
 
 Justices in Eyre 114 
 
 King 
 
 King's Bench 
 King's Counsel 
 
 ...6, 31. 63 
 
 ... 114 
 
 . ... 135 
 
 Law Officers of the Crown 
 
 30, 31 
 
 Legislation 66 
 
 Liberty of the Subject ... 112 
 Local Government ... 27 
 
 Local Government Board 27 
 
 London 140 
 
 London County Council... 143 
 
 Lord Advocate 31 
 
 Lord Chamberlain 32 
 
 Lord Chancellor 14 
 
 Lonl (;rc:it ClKimberlain 32 
 Lord High Constable ... 32 
 Lord High Steward ... 32
 
 11. 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Lord High Treasurei- ... 13 
 lyOixi Lieutenant of Ire- 
 land 29 
 
 Lord Lieutenant 120 
 
 Lord Mayor 141 
 
 Lord President 16 
 
 Lord Privy Seal 17 
 
 Lord Steward of tlie 
 
 Household 31 
 
 Lords, House of 46 
 
 Magistrates 
 
 Magna Charta 
 Manor of Northstead 
 
 Marquis 
 
 Master of the Bud 
 
 hounds 
 
 Master of the Horse 
 Mistress of the Kobes . 
 Master of the Rolls 
 
 Mayor 
 
 Metropolis 
 
 Metropolitan Councils . 
 
 Ministry 
 
 Minor Courts 
 
 Mutiny Act 
 
 32 
 32 
 39 
 
 134 
 144 
 143 
 144 
 35 
 132 
 132 
 
 National Debt ... 85, 137 
 National Expenditure ... 13 
 
 Nisi I'rius 115 
 
 No Regular Representa- 
 tion 45 
 
 Oaths 7 
 
 Opposition, Tlie 66 
 
 Orders in Council 8 
 
 Orders of the Day 67 
 
 Oyer and Terminer ... 115 
 
 Pairing 78 
 
 Pardon 130 
 
 Parliament 52, 57, 63 
 
 Parliamentary Commit- 
 tees, various 75 
 
 Patronage Secretary ... 97 
 
 Party Government ... 96 
 
 Peers 43 
 
 Petition and Bill of 
 
 Rights 5 
 
 Petition 5, 98 
 
 Pennanent Otiicials ... 13 
 
 Police 144 
 
 Poor 27 
 
 Postmaster - General and 
 
 Office 28 
 
 Prerogative 130 
 
 I'ress 101 
 
 Previous question 74 
 
 Prime Minister 12 
 
 Private Bills 91 
 
 I'rivy Council 8 
 
 Privy Seal, Lord 17 
 
 Probate Court 131 
 
 Prolocutor 139 
 
 Prorogation 100 
 
 Provisional Orders ... 93 
 
 Prothonotary 115 
 
 Proxy 78 
 
 I'ublic Opinion 77 
 
 Qualification of Jurors ... 122 
 Quarter Session , Court of 119 
 
 Railways 25 
 
 Recorder 143 
 
 Records, Public 134 
 
 Redress of Grievances 44, 89 
 
 Reform 55 
 
 Remembrancers ... 134, 135 
 
 Remonstrance 44 
 
 Resignation of Govern- 
 ment 36 
 
 Responsibility of Minis- 
 ters 34 
 
 Revising Barrister ... 135 
 "Right Houoiu-able," The 
 
 Designation 7 
 
 Robes, Mistress of the ... 32 
 Rolls, Master of the ... 134 
 
 Royal Assent S4 
 
 Royal Commission 57, 74, 89 
 Royal Household 32 
 
 School Boards 16 
 
 Scotland 30 
 
 Secretaries of State 17, 19, 20 
 Select Committees ... 75 
 Sergeant-at-Aiuis 51 
 
 Sergeaut-at-Law 136 
 
 Sheritts 120, 142 
 
 Solicitor-General 31 
 
 Sovereign, The 3, 4 
 
 Speaker of the Commons 60 
 Speaker of the Lords ... 49 
 
 Spiritual Peers 48 
 
 Standing Army 19 
 
 Standing Orders 91 
 
 Stipendiary Magistrates 119 
 Strangers' Gallery ... 97 
 
 Subpoena 109 
 
 Succession to the Tlu-one 3 
 
 Supply 87 
 
 Supreme Court of Judi- 
 cature 117 
 
 Taxes 82 
 
 Telegraph Dei)artnient ... 28 
 
 Tellers 7 
 
 This day six or thiee 
 
 months 68 
 
 Three Estates 3 
 
 Titles 48 
 
 Treasury 12 
 
 Trinity House 136 
 
 Tiue Bill 123 
 
 Unlimited Monarchy ... 2 
 
 Vacation of Seats ... 79 
 
 Verdict 128 
 
 Vice-Cliaucellor 117 
 
 Vice-Pi"esideut of the 
 Committee of Council 
 
 on Education 16 
 
 Viscount 48 
 
 Votes 81 
 
 WarOfRce 19 
 
 Ways and Means 85 
 
 "Whip" 97 
 
 Witness 109, 126 
 
 Witenagemot 39 
 
 Woods and Forests, Com- 
 missioners of 138 
 
 Woolsack 50 
 
 Works, First Commis- 
 sioner of 28
 
 WORKS BY THE AUTHOR. 
 
 The Fourth and Cheap Edition of 
 
 The Veiled Hand^ 
 
 By FREDERICK WICKS : 
 A Novel of the Sixties, the Seventies and the Eighties. 
 
 WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY JEAN DE PALEOLOGUE. 
 One Volume, 416 pp., 3s. 6d. 
 
 "In reading it, one is reminded more than an)'thing else of Thackeray's 
 wonderfully broad and true pictures of manners." — Athenaeum. 
 
 " Many scenes could be enumerated from Mr. Wicks's novel which, in the 
 essential satire of the situations and in the spirit in wliich they are described, would 
 not disgrace the best English satirists." — The Times. 
 
 " The plot of this ingenious fiction is at least as elaborate as any to be found in 
 the earUer works of Sue, De Balzac, or Dumas the elder."— Daily Telegraph. 
 
 "Mr. Wicks has attempted a task worthy of the highest gifts of genius. Zola 
 has attempted it for France." — The Echo. 
 
 " When people are deploring the decadence of English fiction, and asking who 
 are to fill the proud position formerly held by such writers as Thackeray, Dickens, 
 and George Eliot, it is pleasant to come across a novel displacing many of the best 
 traits of famous English novelists."— Western Morning News. 
 
 " ' The Veiled Hand ' is Zolaesque in the thoroughness of its mastery of detail. 
 — The National Review. 
 
 " Like the early works of Dickens, ' The Veiled Hand ' is a microcosm, embodyiirg 
 representatives of many of the characters that make up the macrocosm." — The 
 Gentleman's Magazine. 
 
 " A strong and well-written novel, which, in some of its phases — particularly 
 in the more humorous passages and dialogues — reminds one of Charles Dickens." 
 — Liverpool Courier. 
 
 " Mr. Wicks has reilly given us an amusing and highly seasonable story." — 
 The Times. 
 
 " Mr. Frederick Wicks has again written a book which for interest and abiding 
 value deserves a high place." — Vanity Fair. 
 
 "It ('The Veiled Hand') is full of ability, with frequent displays of a higher 
 quality than ability." — The Echo. 
 
 " Thoroughly remarkable for restrained power and analytical discernment." — 
 Morning Post. 
 
 " The language is terse, crisp, witty, but the narrative is never hurried." — 
 Athen.*:um. 
 
 " Related in masterly style, wit and humour, sarcasm, knowledge of human 
 nature, and the philosophy that comes of experience being prominently exhibited 
 in this very remarkable novel." — Western Morni.ng News.
 
 Fniiher Notices of " The Veiled Hand": — 
 
 " The pages sparkle with epigrams ; and frequently as by a flash of lightning." 
 — The National Review. 
 
 " The book will take high rank as a description of some of the social lollies and 
 hypocrisies of the day." — Western Morning News. 
 
 " It is the careful, conscientious work of a skilful artist who is determined to 
 give the best that is in him." — The Glasgow News. 
 
 " In the whole range of fiction it would be safe to say there is not a better-drawn 
 . scoundiel than the villain of this story, and there are few, if any, whose machina- 
 tions have been depicted upon such a large scale." — Liverpool Courier. 
 
 " Dickens himself would have laughed over, and might have owned, the 
 rollicking, extravagant humour of Mr. Wicks's description of the pork -butcher." — 
 The Echo. 
 
 '• Many of the passages are as good as anything to be found in ' Vanity Fair,' 
 and there is not the slightest exaggeration in saying that the chapter headed ' A 
 Party of Eight ' is one of the very best things in Enghsh fiction."— Western 
 Morning News. 
 
 "His story arrests and retains attention from first to last." — Morning Post. 
 
 " It is the work of one who has full knowledge of what he is writing about, and 
 has an unprejudiced eye for the ways of the world." — The Glasgow News. 
 
 " Mr. Wicks's characters are of a pronounced t\ pe, but they are not exaggerated, 
 and they act in relation to the extraordinary circumstances in which they are 
 implicated most rationally." — Liverpool Courier. 
 
 " One feels in reading the book, as in that of any true artist, that there is a 
 resen-e of force out of sight — that much more might have been said, but that the 
 writer has rigidly confined himself to the absolutely necessary." — Athen^um. 
 
 " His plot, which is exceedingly ingenious, involves a wide variety of urgent 
 topics, all of which Mr. Wicks treats with familiarity, shrewdness, and vivacity." 
 — Saturday Review. 
 
 "A wide field lies open to the novelist who sets hirasell to expose the trickery 
 and fraud of company promoting and company directing. Such is the theme 
 which inspires the caustic pen of Mr. Frederick Wicks, already known as the 
 author of more than one vivacious novel in which roguery plays an important 
 part." — The Times. 
 
 " ' The Veiled Hand ' tells a story marked by the qualities at once of photogra- 
 phic fidelity and artistic selection." — Vanity Fair. 
 
 " Mr. Wicks is painstaking, vivid, and entertaining." — The National Review. 
 
 " Mr. Wicks is effective without exaggeration, while his cynicism is tempered 
 by a lively sense of humour . . strong human interest, and brilliant originaHty 
 of manner." — Morning Post. 
 
 " Throughout the whole book there is evidence that there is nothing vamped up 
 about it," — The Glasgow News. 
 
 " Undoubtedly one of the most interesting and clever contributions to modem 
 fiction." — Liverpool Courier. 
 "Lifelike and full of life." — Fairplav. 
 " A writer of quite uncommon subtlety and strength." — Athen^um.
 
 Further Notices of " The Veiled Hand" : — 
 
 " An exception to the rule upon which the average modern novel is constructed." 
 — Saturday Review. 
 
 " It is full of honest work without being laboured; it is shrewdly, sometimes 
 even mercilessly, observant." — Vanity Fair. 
 
 •' It would be difficult to praise the style too highly." — Athen^um. 
 
 " The book is a workmanlike production, to be classed not only among ' Books 
 to Read,' but also among ' Books to Buy.' '' — Vanity Fair. 
 
 " Many of the chapters are humorous in a measure and in a manner which would 
 have done credit to Dickens." — The National Review. 
 
 " He resembles him (Thackeray) because he treats of much the same sort of 
 people, and, like Thackeray, looks at Society from the point of view of the good- 
 humoured cynic." — Athen^um. 
 
 "There are in it incidents, characters, situations, dialogues enough to stock 
 three novels." — The Echo. 
 
 " In ' The Veiled Hand ' he is specially severa upon that combination of the 
 politician and the company-monger of which we have latterly had so many shining 
 examples in our own and in other countries." — The Times. 
 
 " The reader would be tempted to suppose that the book had been written 
 thirty years ago, under the full inspiration of Thackeray's genius." — Athen.eum. 
 
 "In the matter of construction 'The Veiled Hand' is extremely skilful." — 
 Saturday Review. 
 
 LAWRENCE and BULLEN, Henrietta Street, Covent Garden.
 
 SECOND AND CHEAP EDITION 
 
 — OF — 
 
 "The Infant," 
 
 By FREDERICK WICKS. 
 
 One Volume, 404 pp., 3/6. 
 
 "Among English novel-readers it has for some years been a recognised fact 
 that the name of Mr. Frederick Wicks on the title-page of a work of fiction is 
 sound warranty of a clever and entertaining story, ingenious in plot, sym- 
 metrical in construction, and above all, wholesome in tone and feeling This 
 appreciation of his merits as a romancist is fully confirmed by the conspicuous 
 excellence of his latest novel 'The Infant.' . . . 'The Infant' teems 
 with convincing characterisation, brilliant dialogue, and wise thoughts wittily 
 propounded. Though by no means polemical or didactic it is ripe with matter 
 for serious consideration, as well as with ' good things ' eminently provoca- 
 tive of hearty laughter." — The Daily Telegraph. 
 
 "The incidents arise naturally and are naturally treated. The slighttouches 
 by which Harold's apprentice life are depicted give one truer and more vivid 
 impressions than any detailed account could have done. Indeed, Mr. Wicks 
 has a veritable gift of suggestion." — The D.mly Chronicle. 
 
 " It is written in the style of a decade ago. the decade that furnished us with 
 our standard fiction, the fiction that amused, created real beings for us, gave 
 us real food for meditation, that wrapped its philosophy in its humour. . 
 VVe venture to say that he who commences 'The Infant' will not give up 
 until the end is reached. . . . Almost all the characters in the book are 
 real, and have a decided personality of their own, a bearing and characteristic 
 that distinguishes their conversations and doings from each other. . . . Mr. 
 Wicks has a keen humour which he displays throughout the book as well as 
 much true philosophy and honest thought."— Life. 
 
 "It is a pleasant change in these days of novels composed entirely of intri- 
 cate analysis of one feminine character to find French lady's maid, Roman 
 Catholic priest, lawyer's clerk, sea captain, Glasgow mechanic, British Peer, 
 and French poodle all jostling one another off the stage. The book is undeni- 
 ably clever. Mr. Wicks shows knowledge of many matters. His characters 
 are vivid and amusing." — Thk Scotsman. 
 
 "'The Infant' is an exceedingly clever story, packed with material alive 
 with thought, and worth any half-dozen of the ordinary library novels which 
 the new fashion of fiction produces with success from week to week. It is the 
 work of an active intellect allied with steady observation, and holds the reader 
 attentive and alert." — The Realm, 
 
 " The readers who take up a novel b}' Mr. Frederick Wicks may expect to 
 meet within its pages plenty of humour, satire, and knowledge of the world, 
 as well as an interesting plot, an abundance of amusing incidents, and much 
 terse and vigorous writing." — The Australian.
 
 Further Notices of " Ihe Infant" : — 
 
 " Mr. Wicks's latest woik has all the liveliness of inciiient and keenness of 
 interest that ' Golden Lives ' and his other books have taught us to expect 
 from him, while in the nr-.atter of constructive power it marks a distinct advance 
 on its predecessors. . . . Altogether, it is a book ; hat is easier to read than 
 set down."— St. James's Gazette. 
 
 "Mr. Wicks has written a very amusing novel which will be read with 
 pleasure by those many thousands who are getting heartily tired of the 
 works of the women who didn't make them interesting." — Vanity Fair. 
 
 "The interest of the reader is strongly held throughout and the light and 
 shade of the story are blended with a skill that prevents it, in spite oi its con- 
 Biderable length, from ever becoming wearisome." — The Liverpool Post. 
 
 • ' Mr. Wicks is strongest in his character drawing, which displays an inven- 
 tive art and a power of differentiation rare in fiction of our times. . . . 
 'The Infant ' is a thoroughly interesting story, full of vigorous cleverness, 
 and very wholesome withal." — The Globe. 
 
 '■ If the social conditions of his realistic romance may be properly described 
 as commonplace, his manner of treatment, and the epi^^odes he so skilfully 
 develops, cannot be described as other than remarkable and unique. He has 
 written a powerful storv not the least notable quality of which is its al!- 
 pervaHing humour," — Morning Leader. 
 
 "The story is well constructed and most engrossing. . . . The style ot 
 the whole book is marked by a finish and condensation which are as welcome 
 as they are unusual in the modern novelist."— Birmingham Daily Post. 
 
 " The story is singularly clever, and the up-to-date aspects are introduced 
 because they are necessary for the development of the plot, and not because 
 they display the author's knowledge of affairs."— Black and White. 
 
 " The author is so cheerful and entertaining that the reader will follow the 
 details of the history of 'The Infant' with the liveliest interest. ... A 
 volume lull of varied entertainment." — Publishers' Circular 
 
 " The author's ability is unquestionable. . . . His humour is genuine 
 and frequently irresistible. . . . A book that will count among the most 
 considerable of the author's productions." — Morning Post. 
 
 "The tale is well constructed and thoroughly symmetrical. It embraces a 
 variety of persons, each expressive of some particular phase of character,and 
 all worked into an organically complete and coherent story." — York Herald. 
 
 " Mr. Wicks has studied character to some puipose and his book is full of 
 real personalities, who are calculated to live oej'ond the period when the 
 present fashion in novels is dead and buried. ... A thoroughly clever 
 and genuine piece of work, skilful, strong, and honest, and — a quality by no 
 means as common as it should be— written in admirable Englisb."— St. 
 James's Budget. 
 
 LAWRENCE and BULLEN, Limited, i6, Henri etia Street, 
 CovENT Garden.
 
 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS 
 
 ON 
 
 FORMEREDITIONSOFTHISWORK, 
 
 It has the great merit of being quite clear from nonsense and fine writing. 
 We may say the same of by far the greater part of the first fourteen chapters, 
 whicli give a straightfoi-ward and sensible and commonly accurate account of 
 the Constitution, the different branches of Goceniment and their worlfiug, of 
 the theory and the practice of eacli. The chapters on the Crowii, tlie Cabinet, 
 the Houses of Parliament, and all matters of that kind, are fairly done, and 
 several matters are explained about which there are popular misconceptions. 
 With all this part relating to Ministerial and Parliamentary matters as at present 
 understood, Mr. Wicks has evidently taken great pains, and if the senior classes, 
 for whom his book is meant as a reading and lesson book, get it thoroughly up, 
 it will be all the better for them.— .Safucda/y Rcinew. 
 
 Simple enough for a child ten or eleven years of age, but not so simple in 
 style as to prevent its being read with pleasure by adults, and answering just 
 the questions thousands are asking and few are able to reply to. Mr. Wicks's 
 book is very valuable in the study of history, for it forms an admirable elucida- 
 tion of the iwlitical story of the times in wliidi we live. We recommend the work 
 at once to teachers and to general readers.— .Sc/too? Board Chronicle. 
 
 No better introduction to the study of our Government and Constitutional 
 history could be desired. The style is clear, accurate, and attractive ; the whole 
 subject is well arranged, and a copious inde.x facilitates reference. — The Press. 
 
 A useful book A compendious account of the working of the British 
 
 Constitution through the means of public bodies, esi)lainjng the origin and 
 practice of each. — The Globe. 
 
 It reduces a profound subject to simplicity, and presents a vast number of facts 
 concerning our politicai life in a very small compass. — The Homilist. 
 
 It contains a vast amount of information of a kind wliich every intelligent man 
 ought to consider indispensable, relating to the three estates of the realm. — 
 Literary World. 
 
 AVe regard it as a model of condensation and completeness.— A'autical 
 Magazine. 
 
 Altogether we feel the tone as well as the object of the book to be thoroughly 
 good.—Shcffield Telegraph. 
 
 The book is likely to meet a very general want, and it certainly fills a gap iu 
 the handbook literature of the day, for the only other book of the same style, 
 and anything near the same price with which we have any acquaintance, is too 
 sketchy and superficial for real use.— Newcastle Otronicle. 
 
 By the novelty of its cliaracter the extent of its information on subjects 
 about which many people talk \\ith only partial information, and by the author's 
 intimate acquaintance with the details of the subject, the book should be 
 carefully read by all who wish to have more than a general acquaintance, with 
 the British Constitution, and the way in wliich our Goveninieat is carriecl on. — 
 Manchester E.rantincr. 
 
 Tlie author not only inculcates a pure and elevated patriotism, but maintains 
 throughout a spirit of the strictest impartiality. — Dover E.ipress. 
 
 The execution of the work is no less excellent than its design Tlie 
 
 description of the form of I'arliamentary procedure is by far tne most clear auj 
 intelligible we have ever seen.— C'ambridiie Independent. 
 
 Mr. Wicks's account of the way in which the laws of England are administered 
 is at once concise and comprehensive, and liis description of Parliamentary 
 procedure very interesting.— H^csfcrn Daily Mercury. 
 A clear exposition.— CinKiHff^iam Gazette. 
 
 An intelligible account of the way in whicli the atiairs of the nation are 
 administered.— iWi'rf/dud Free Press. 
 
 Its pages contain information that would be valuable to every elector in the 
 kingdom.— Du6/i» Ercning Moil. 
 
 A careful, conscientious treatment is apparent in every page All 
 
 classes would find it useful as a work of reference. — Cornish Telegraph.
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 Los Angeles 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
 gB12 1952 
 
 FormL9 — 15m-10,'48 (B1039)444 
 
 CJWflYERSiTY ot 
 
 AT 
 LOS /I ^
 
 JN 
 318 
 ".;63b 
 1902 
 
 UCLA-Young Research Library 
 
 JN318 .W63b 1902 
 y 
 
 L 009 618 619 2 
 
 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 AA 001 353 002 7